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 prayer for the Jews special need. These prayers are very ancient, predating the eighth century at least (as they are found in the Gelasian Sacramentary) and may be from as early as the second century. In medieval Europe Good Friday and Easter week generally was a time of dread for Jews who often come under attack. The extent to which the language used in the Good Friday prayers contributed to this is a matter of dispute. In the early 1920s, the Clerical Association of Friends of Israel, a Catholic organization founded in 1926 to foster positive attitudes toward Jews and pray for their conversion