NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      HAVANA (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston on Tuesday praised changes in Communist Cuba since an historic visit by Pope John Paul II earlier this year and called for diplomatic compromises from both Havana and Washington.

      The cardinal said he spoke with Cuban President Fidel Castro and other Cuban leaders for three hours over dinner on Monday night. "It was a dinner of friendship, of respect," he said. The cardinal has made several trips to the Caribbean nation in recent years, and is currently making a four-day visit at the invitation of Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana.

      Among the changes praised by the cardinal are a recent decision to make Christmas a legal holiday and to allow 40 more foreign priest and religious workers to enter the country. "These are steps. What is essential is the institutionalization of change, like with the Christmas holiday .... It's not enough to grant concessions," Cardinal Law said. But he called for even more religious freedom and human rights.

      The cardinal also called for an end to the 36-year-old embargo of Cuba by the United States. "[The embargo] achieves nothing for Cuban society, and lifting the embargo could have a very positive effect ... for young and old, men and women on this island," he said.