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
State visit of Elizabeth II to the Republic of Ireland visit was notable for being the first by the Queen to the Republic, she had visited the island of Ireland on many occasions during her reign; however, her visits were always confined to Northern Ireland. She had also been visited in London by President Mary Robinson in May 1993 and then several times by President McAleese since 1997. The visit was seen as a symbolic normalisation of Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom relations following the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which settled most outstanding territorial disputes between the states, including the abandonment by the Republic of its territorial claim