Christmas homilies by several Roman Catholic priests in Cuba criticized the defenselessness to which the regime has condemned Cubans.
Father Rodríguez Alegre, a priest of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba, said: ”‘I cry for Cuba because Cuba hurts me. The pain of my brothers hurts me.’ He stressed that Cuba’s greatest evil is not material deprivation, but the loss of truth and the social fracture caused by repression and fear. ‘We have lived in lies and now we do not know how to find the path to truth.’”
Father Jesús Fernando Marcoleta, parish priest in Varadero, “emphasized the transformative character of Christmas as a beacon of light in the midst of darkness: ‘Now that we are suffocated by living without light, the Christmas of Jesus becomes more propitious as it is more night in each one of us and more night in the nation. Every human being has the right to hope, to good hope.’”
“Both priests . . . agreed that the path to the reconstruction of Cuba passes through reconciliation and a return to the values of the Gospel.” Alegre quoted Jose Marti, “”We must discard the barbaric gospel of hatred in order to speak the sweet talk of love.” Marcoleta said, ““Guide, Lord, our steps to the light of your grace. You who always exceed our expectations and are stronger than our fears, allow us to believe in your word.”
Earlier another priest, Father Alberto Reyes “pleaded with Cuba’s rulers to take whatever they want and leave the country forever as the only way to stop ‘everyday being a continuous struggle for survival. You are not going to refloat this country, you are not going to remedy the lack of fuel, nor the precariousness of the thermoelectric plants, nor are you going to give us back a life without continuous blackouts. You are not going to solve the hunger of this people, nor are you going to make the days stop being a continuous struggle for survival. You are not going to solve the monetary problem, nor inflation, nor the miserable life of the people.’”
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Cuba’s greatest evil is the social fracture caused by repression and fear, say Catholic priests on the island, Diario de Cuba (Dec. 28, 2024).