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Cuban bishops reorganize structure
Havana, Feb 23 (EFE).- The Cuban Bishops
Conference reorganized its structure to
lead the church as it seeks "greater
space" to carry out what it sees as
its mission on the island.
The shuffle, described in a communique
issued Thursday by the prelates as "a
renewed stage," came on the heels of
the visit to the island this month of Cardinal
Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace.
Following the restructuring, which was
approved at a Feb. 19-22 gathering, Cardinal
Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of Havana,
is being replaced as president of the conference
by Camaguey Archbishop Juan Garcia Rodriguez.
"We're conscious of the fact that
we are starting a renewed stage for the
Church that lives in Cuba," the conference
said.
The gathering started right after the Feb.
16-18 visit to Cuba by Cardinal Martino,
who met with Fidel Castro, the atheist leader
of the Communist-ruled island.
In the late 1980s, the Cuban Church held
its first national congress, and in 1991,
the Communist Party Congress voted to allow
believers into the party's ranks.
A year later, the Cuban Constitution was
amended to change the description of the
state from "atheist" to "secular."
The church estimates some 70 percent of
Cubans are Catholic, but some observers
say the figure is too optimistic, given
the scant participation in religious activities.
The meeting between Castro and Martino,
according to Cuban church officials, was
cordial and Castro told the cardinal that
he would like Pope Benedict XVI to visit
Cuba.
The visit to the island by Martino, who
presented a new document on the church's
social doctrine, coincided with the release
of a plan in which Cuba's bishops expressed
the goal of seeking "greater space"
in pursuing its mission in Cuba.
The Cuban Bishops Conference said in its
2006-2010 pastoral plan that it sought to
provide support for Cuban society and not
to become an "alternative source of
power." The bishops said the church
could "not be wrapped up in itself"
if it was to fulfill its mission and "creatively
seek new spaces in society." Last week,
Benedict XVI urged Cubans in a letter to
Ortega to "trust in one another, despite
differences in ways of thinking or beliefs."
Benedict delivered his message in a letter
- made public Feb. 15 by the Vatican - that
was sent to Cardinal Ortega on the 20th
anniversary of the Cuban national ecclesiastical
conference.
The Roman Catholic leader also said it
was worth remembering the words used by
the late Pope John Paul II on his visit
to the Caribbean nation in January 1998:
"Cuba needs to open herself to the
world and the world must open itself to
Cuba." Recently, Cuban bishops complained
the Cuban government had gone back to the
language of the early years of the revolution,
when conflict between Cuba's Communist regime
and the Roman Catholic Church first erupted.
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