Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega dead at 82 -personal secretary

Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and who first suffered persecution and then went on to improve Church relations with the Communist-run government, died early Friday morning.

Nelson Crespo, the personal secretary of Cardinal Ortega, told Reuters that Ortega, 82, had passed away at 6.16 a.m. after a long battle with cancer.