In what constitutes his last activity in Cuba on this occasion, Kirill returned to the Cathedral he inaugurated in 2008, when he was Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad and Head of the Department of Foreign Church Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, for the religious celebration of this Sunday, February 14,  Day of Love and Friendship.

On several occasions the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church has publicly thanked the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and Raul, for the decision to build in Havana the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, on which he considered it’s also working to strengthen links between nations.

The construction of the temple, the first of its kind in Latin America,was a historic event, since in the world there isn’t an orthodox basilica that has been erected through the will and efforts of the authorities and the population of a country, a gesture the Patriarch himself has said Russians will not forget and will keep forever in their memory.

Since 2008, on the Avenida del Puerto of Havana, a few meters from the waters of the bay, five golden domes symbolize Christ and four evangelists testify in Nuestra Señora de Kazan Russian Orthodox Cathedral the message of fraternity and hope of Patriarch Kirill towards Cubans.

In October, 2001, the construction of a temple for the Russian Orthodox Church was agreed, a decision marked by the imprint of Fidel, and three years later, on November 14, 2004, the then Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad presided over the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the temple.

Russia and Cuba have a special relationship, impossible to break, highlighted the Patriarch, stressing the joint work of Soviets and Cubans for justice.