By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul on Monday told Cuba's foreign minister that the Vatican still wanted to see greater religious freedom on the communist-run island.
Felipe Perez Roque held separate meetings with the Pope and with his top two diplomats, Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano and Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran.
A Vatican statement afterwards did not say if the controversial issue of six-year-old shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez, the purpose of Perez's European tour, was specifically discussed at any of the meetings.
But it did say that there was a ``a convergence of analysis'' between the Vatican and the Cuban on ``issues of international politics,'' including the need for more help for poor countries.
The brief statement did not elaborate.
Perez, 34, a close aide and confidant of Cuban President Fidel Castro, is on a 10-day tour of Europe to canvass support for Cuba's nationalistic battle to obtain the boy's return from the United States.
He told reporters before leaving Havana he would not seek the Pope's direct intervention in the custody dispute, which has strained already sensitive U.S.-Cuban ties and pitted Castro in a bitter war of words against his Cuban exile foes in Miami.
VATICAN WANTS GREATER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
On Church-state issues, the Vatican statement said Perez was told that the Holy See ``hoped for ever greater religious freedom along the lines of what the Holy Father affirmed during his historic visit in 1998.''
Last month, in a major address to Cuba's new ambassador to the Vatican, the Pope said Cuba had to clean up its human rights record if it wanted to win credibility and financial aid from the world community.
The Pope's comments last month were some of his most forceful since he made his landmark visit.
The clear wording of the Pope's speech last month indicated that the Vatican felt that not much had changed on the predominantly Catholic island in two years.
During his 1998 trip, the Pope urged Cuba to give its people more political freedom and to give its Catholic Church more space to carry out its mission.
The Vatican statement said that Perez told the Vatican side at the Monday talks that the Cuban government wanted ``to favour mutual, harmonious collaboration.''
MINISTER'S EUROPEAN TOUR WAS POSTPONED
Perez had planned to make his European tour in December but it was postponed because Castro put the whole government and country on a virtual emergency footing to concentrate on organising the fight for the return of Elian Gonzalez.
Last month, Perez sent a letter to foreign ministers of every nation with diplomatic links with Havana, asking them to help Cuba resolve what he denounced as the ``kidnapping'' and ``shameful piracy'' applied by the United States in the Gonzalez case.
The controversy began after the boy was rescued off Florida on November 25 after surviving a failed attempt by a boatload of illegal Cuban migrants to reach the United States. His mother drowned when the boat sank.
His father, who is divorced from the mother and is still in Cuba, is demanding the child's immediate return.
09:49 01-17-00
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