Cuban Catholics celebrated Good Friday with a Stations of the Cross procession in Havana on Friday (March 29).<br/> <br />A solemn procession left the baroque colonial-era Havana Cathedral and marched through the streets of Old Havana.<br/> <br />While religious public holidays were banned on the island following Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959, Good Friday was reinstated in 2012 after a request was made by Pope Benedict while he was visiting the country.<br/> <br />While most of Cuba was Roman Catholic through the first half of the 20th century, Catholicism was greatly restricted during the decades following the Cuban Revolution.<br/> <br />The Church has worked fervently to expand its influence in Cuban society and was instrumental in the release of political prisoners.
