HAVANA (AP) -- Opening a major Roman Catholic conference in
                  communist Cuba, a senior Vatican official said Wednesday that
                  democracy can ensure that a government does not have absolute
                  control over its citizens.

                  "Democracy is pluralistic in its essence," Archbishop Jean Louis
                  Tauran, the Vatican's equivalent of a foreign secretary, said in opening the
                  three-day conference on "Church-State Relations in Modern Society."

                  Tauran described democracy as "pluralism of individual opinions and
                  political expression, separation of powers, control of the executive." He said
                  it assumes "ideological neutrality of the state, which should not identify itself
                  with any ideology or religion -- not even an anti-religious doctrine."

                  While Tauran did not directly criticize Fidel Castro's government, the statements
                  by a leading papal envoy about democracy were unusual in a communist country
                  that was once an officially atheist state.

                  Some 150 representatives of dioceses throughout Cuba were gathered in
                  Havana to discuss the "anthropological, economic and social implications" of
                  Pope John Paul II's apostolic exhortation to the churches of the Americas
                  after his visit to Latin America and the United States in January.

                  Church-state relations were tense for nearly three decades after the triumph
                  of Castro's revolution in 1959.

                  But relations have improved significantly in recent years, especially since
                  John Paul II's January visit to Cuba. Cuba officially became a lay state
                  earlier this decade.

                  Regular religious worship is no longer restricted and religious believers are
                  now allowed to belong to the Communist Party.

                  Nevertheless, the church continues to push for greater access to mass
                  media, less government pressure on political dissidents and a tougher policy
                  on abortion, which is common in Cuba.

                  A meeting between the archbishop and Castro was considered likely. The
                  president and other Cuban leaders have regularly met in the past with visiting
                  Vatican officials.

                  The discussion of how papal exhortations to the church should be applied on
                  the communist island was continuing through Friday.

                  Tauran on Wednesday reiterated the pope's earlier calls for full access to the
                  mass media and religious education on the Caribbean.

                  Cuba's mass media is government-controlled, but has periodically allowed
                  the Roman Catholic church some space, including a rare Christmas message
                  on national radio last year by Cardinal Jaime Ortega -- Cuba's top Catholic
                  churchman.

                  Tauran said the church and state should not distrust each other, "or worse,
                  be afraid."