"Today marks the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The desire to achieve full communion among all believers in Christ is always present in the Church as she continues on her pilgrim way, and is ever more pressing during this year dedicated to the Holy Spirit as we prepare for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. Harmony and unity – the object of the Church's hope and, consequently, of humanity's hope as well - are still far off; nonetheless they constitute a gift of the Holy Spirit which we must untiringly seek".

From the departure address at Havana's airport. 25 January 1998

As Successor of the Apostle Peter and following the Lord's, command, I have come as a messenger of truth and hope, to confirm you in faith and to leave you a message of peace and reconciliation in Christ. Therefore I encourage you to continue to walk together, inspired by the highest moral principles, so that the vitality which characterises this noble people will produce abundant fruits of well-being and of spiritual and material prosperity for the benefit of everyone.

Before leaving this capital city, I wish to bid an emotional farewell to all the sons and daughters of this nation: to those who live in the cities and in the countryside; to the children, the young people and the elderly; to the families and each individual person. I am confident that they will continue to preserve and promote the most genuine values of the Cuban heart. Faithful to the heritage received from your forebears and despite difficulties, the Cuban spirit must ever show its trust in God, its Christian faith, its ties to the Church, its love for the culture and traditions of the homeland, its vocation to justice and freedom. In the process of doing precisely this, all Cubans are called to contribute to the common good in a climate of mutual respect and with a profound sense of solidarity.

In our day, no nation can live in isolation. The Cuban people therefore cannot be denied the contacts with other peoples necessary for economic, social and cultural development, especially when the imposed isolation strikes the population indiscriminately, making it ever more difficult for the weakest to enjoy the bare essentials of decent living, things such as food, health and education. All can and should take practical steps to bring about changes in this regard. May nations, and especially those which share the same Christian heritage and the same language, work effectively to extend the benefits of unity and harmony, to join efforts and overcome obstacles so that the Cuban people, as active agents of their own history, may maintain international relations which promote the common good. In this way they will be helped to overcome the suffering caused by material and moral poverty, the roots of which may be found, among other things, in unjust inequalities, in limitations to fundamental freedoms, in depersonalisation and the discouragement of individuals, and in oppressive economic measures - unjust and ethically unacceptable - imposed from outside the country.