The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, told Cuban President Fidel Castro in a meeting on 3 August all Cuban churches should receive equal treatment on the part of the state in order to meet the challenges raised by their pastoral ministry.

The meeting took place at the end of an ecumenical delegation’s four-day visit to Cuba, which included WCC president from North America, Dr Bernice Powell-Jackson of the United Church of Christ (USA), and WCC central committee member Bishop Rolf Koppe of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

Mr Kobia said: “Churches, in particular Protestant churches, are growing because of this growth, they need to build new churches and seminaries and have access to the media in order to tackle the pastoral challenges that arise in their service to the Cuban people.”

Mr Kobia emphasised and commended the important contributions that churches make to Cuban society during sermons he preached to the WCC’s two Cuban member churches, the Methodist Church and the First Presbyterian Reformed Church.

The General Secretary expressed his solidarity with native churches that criticise the economic embargo set by the US for its negative consequences on the island.

“The Cuban blockade is part of a unilateral international policy on the part of the United States that goes far beyond being an economic or political measure,” said Kobia. “From a humanitarian and ethical perspective, we demand that the blockade be immediately lifted,” he said.

The ecumenical delegation also took time out to visit numerous social projects, including a hospital for children with heart problems and a rehabilitation centre for children and young people with mental disabilities. A visit was also made to a university specialising in computer sciences.

Kobia endorsed the “great vision” reflected in these initiatives as well as the “will to recognise and restore people’s dignity”.

The Rev Rhode Gonzalez, president of the Cuban Council of Churches, and the Catholic Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, were just two of many church leaders to meet with the WCC delegation.

The visit to Cuba is part of a wider visit to the Caribbean which has already seen Kobia meet with the leadership of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC) at its headquarters in Trinidad.

The delegation arrived in Haiti on Friday where the Protestant Federation of Haiti is an associate council of the WCC. The WCC will meet Friday with Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Archbishop François-Wolff Ligondé.