Misael Gorrin said Castro made his remarks during a nine-hour meeting with Protestant leaders on Monday night. The Council of Churches is an officially recognized body that represents most of the country's non-Catholic churches. Castro told the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Pentecostalists, and representatives of the Cuban Jewish community that their prayers were necessary to help solve the serious economic problems facing the country, Gorrin said. He added that the religious leaders' concerns over abortion and prostitution were also discussed.
The last such meeting between Castro and Protestant leaders took place in 1990, but the Communist government has taken steps in recent years to improve relations with religious denominations in the country. Last November, Castro invited Pope John Paul to visit the country in January 1998, marking the Pontiff's first visit to the only Latin American country he has not yet visited.