HAVANA -- (AP) -- To celebrate the second anniversary of Pope John Paul II's
 visit to Cuba, the island's Roman Catholic bishops have called for spiritual and
 social renewal, discouraged emigration and urged peaceful, gradual change on
 the island.

 A 13-page document, A New Heaven and a New Earth, reviewed papal teachings
 during John Paul's historic 1998 visit.

 It avoided blunt language in most of its criticisms, both of Cuban society and the
 country's critics.

 ``Moderation, dialogue and gradualness are the guarantee of peaceful solutions
 and the gestation of a new civilization of truth, justice and love,'' it said.

 But the document, issued Friday, referred to several areas of continuing
 disagreement between the Cuban state and church, calling for officials to permit
 greater ideological diversity in this one-party state and urging greater freedom for
 the church to distribute charity and take part in education.

 The message exhorted Catholics to openly profess and practice their faith, partly
 by taking part in open-air masses and other religious celebrations.

 Such events have been allowed on a limited basis for the last several years. The
 change was partly a product of the papal visit and partly of greater official
 acceptance of religion after 1991, when the fall of the Soviet Union led Cuba to
 rethink its ideology and cast aside officially mandated atheism.

 The bishops' message discouraged emigration from Cuba as a solution for
 Cubans of faith.

 ``In leaving the country behind there is little we can do to solve its problems. We
 believe that within our island it is possible to find solutions,'' the document said.

 It also repeated the Pope's criticism of the U.S. economic embargo, referring to
 ``restrictive economic measures imposed from outside the country'' and calling
 them ``unjust and ethically unacceptable.''
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald