Preparations for the papal trip to Cuba "progress properly" according to the Church

Preparations for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba next March "progress properly", said yesterday EfE sources of the Roman Catholic Church on the island, where a Commission of Vatican oversaw this past weekend the work prior to the voyage of the Pontiff.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Havana explained that the Vatican Committee, chaired by the head of the Organization of international papal travel, Alberto Gasbarri, held meetings with the Commission of the Government of Cuba to prepare the event and also visited the places you will visit Pope Benedict XVI.

"Working with good spirit of cooperation", added the source.

The Commission headed by Gasbarri arrived last Friday on the island and departed yesterday Sunday.

The Pope will travel in March to Mexico, and Cuba, on his second visit to Latin America - was Brazil in 2007 – and first for speaking Spanish in the region.

In the u000athe case of Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI's visit will coincide with the Jubilee year for the IV centenary of the discovery of the image of the copper charity, the patron saint of the island.

The Pontiff will arrive March 26 to Santiago de Cuba (to 944 kilometers east of Havana), where it will be officially received by President Raúl Castro and, after a trip to scenic, auto will hold a mass in the Plaza of the revolution in that city.

He will also visit the sanctuary of copper, where the image of the Virgen de la Caridad, and 27 will scroll to Havana, where will hold meetings with Raul Castro and the Catholic Bishops of the island, for the next day completed his visit after a mass at the emblematic Plaza of the revolution in Havana.

will be the second of a Pope to the island, in 1998 received John Paul II on a visit considered "historic" and where requested "that Cuba open to the world and the world to" u000a"Cuba".

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