Communist Cuba thanks Pope Francis for warming and building up relationship between Cuba and US, President thinks converting to the Catholic Church

For the record, there are NO MEMBERS of the Iglesia Ni Cristo® of Manalo in Cuba to this date (2015 May).  Iglesians or Manalistas are known to go to places with much Catholics and inject their anti-Catholic and anti-Christ copied Arianism.  INC™ paid ministers are like parasites living only through their victim host in order to survive, otherwise Manalo's church can never survive.

With the advent of opening up the doors of Cuba to the world, and with the strong presence of the Catholic Church there, I am hundred per cent sure that Manalo would be sending INC™ members to Havana first as migrant workers.  Watch my prophetic statement!

Cuban President Raul Castro and Pope Francis (Source: The Guardian)

President of Cuba, where crackdowns on dissidents have drawn Vatican criticism, says he is so impressed with pontiff that he is considering converting to Catholicism

The Guardian - The Cuban president, Raúl Castro, has thanked Pope Francis for helping to broker the diplomatic thaw between his country and the US, saying he was so impressed with the pontiff he was even considering converting to Catholicism.

“Bienvenido!” said Francis in his native Spanish as he welcomed Castro to his studio near the Vatican’s public audience hall for private talks that lasted nearly an hour.

After leaving the Vatican, Castro, the brother of Fidel, the revolutionary leader who brought the Communists to power in Cuba, gushed with praise for Francis.

“If the pope keeps going the way he’s going, I’ll come back to the Catholic church,” Castro said at a news conference at the office of the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, whom he met after the Vatican talks.

“When the pope goes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his masses, and with satisfaction.”

It was a startling assertion for the leader of a communist country, where crackdowns on dissidents in the past had drawn sharp Vatican criticism.

“I am from the Cuban Communist party, that doesn’t allow [religious] believers, but now we are allowing it, it’s an important step,” Castro said.

Speaking about Francis, the Cuban president said he had been “very impressed by his wisdom, his modesty, and all his virtues that we know he has”.

Francis played a key role in secret negotiations between the US and Cuba, which led to the surprise announcement in December that the two countries would seek to restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of tensions.

“Raúl Castro thanked the pope for his mediation between Cuba and the United States,” Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said of the exchange, which also focused on the pontiff’s forthcoming visit to Cuba.

Castro gave Francis an artwork of a cross made up of relics from wrecked barges depicting a migrant in prayer, and a medal of Havana Cathedral. The pope presented a copy of his Apostolic Exhortation – a document which outlines his views on important issues – and a medallion.

Castro’s Vatican visit, announced only on Tuesday, follows a visit to Russia, where the Cuban leader attended a grandiose second world war victory parade on Saturday.

The Vatican announced last month that Pope Francis would visit Cuba in September, becoming only the third pontiff to do so after John Paul II in 1998 and Benedict XVI in 2012.

The Catholic church has consistently backed calls for the lifting of the US trade embargo against Cuba, while staunchly supporting Cuban Catholics and pressuring Havana to release political prisoners, many of whom are Catholic activists.

Francis will go on from Cuba to the US for a meeting with President Barack Obama.

Castro told reporters: “We are trying to carry forward improvements of our political, social and cultural system. But it’s very difficult to do it without causing shocks, without leaving some in the street.”