HAVANA - Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, the former archbishop of Havana who helped organize the first papal visit to the communist country and negotiated modest openings with a government that was once officially atheist, has died.
AP Photo/Javier Galeano Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega celebrates Good Friday mass during Holy Week in the cathedral in Havana, Cuba, April 6, 2012.
A practiced pianist, Ortega composed music for a Cuban Catholic Mass, and traveled to Havana weekly to lecture on theology at the San Carlos y San Ambrosio Seminary.
Ortega was named president of Cuba's Catholic Bishops Conference in 1988 and held that position for a decade.
Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate via AP Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega, right, stands behind Pope Francis in the popemobile as they arrive for mass at Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba, Sept. 20, 2015.