Good Friday his advisers, decreed that Good Friday that year would be a holiday. This was Castro's response to a request made personally to him by Pope Benedict XVI during the latter's Apostolic Visitation to the island and León, Mexico that month. The move followed the pattern of small advances in Cuba's relations with the Vatican, mirroring Pope John Paul II's success in getting Fidel Castro to declare Christmas Day a holiday. Both Good Friday and Christmas are now annual holidays in Cuba. In Hong Kong, despite the transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997, Good Friday continues to
Good Friday from long preaching services centered on a dramatic and sentimentalized remembrance of the "Seven Last Words," sayings of Jesus assembled from the four gospels, toward a more devotional practice that places an emphasis on the triumph of the cross, and a singular biblical account of the Passion narrative from the Gospel of John. Along with observing a general Lenten fast, many Lutherans emphasize the importance of Good Friday as a day of fasting within the kalendar. "A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent" recommends the Lutheran guideline to "Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one simple meal