"That does not represent -- far from it -- a rejection of peacefully settling conflicts," said the letter yesterday, a week after communist Cuba and the United States held landmark talks in Havana as they attempt to normalize ties.
US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced on December 17 that the Cold War rivals would work to normalize relations that broke off in 1961.
Pope Francis played a central role in mediating the secret negotiations that led to the December announcement.
Yet what many observers found most stunning in so much change is that the leader of Cuba's 1959 revolution, a lawyer by training famous for speaking for hours in excruciating detail has yet to publicly comment about the detente that his brother Raul, 83, has engaged with his old enemy.
Obama has called on Congress to lift the US embargo on Havana, and used executive powers to ease some travel and trade restrictions. He has also given the State Department six months to review whether Cuba should remain on the terror list.