Havana, Cuba, Sep 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The leader of the Catholic Church in Cuba, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, rejected as "truly outrageous" a Communist government official's charge that Cuban bishops served the interests of the United States.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega, archbishop of Havana and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Cuba, said statements made last week by Cuba's envoy to the Vatican, Raul Roa, were "insulting."
Ortega was most annoyed by Roa's remark that Cuban priests are closer to the people and the socialist work of the government, while some bishops are "closer to the people in Miami, the Cuban emigres. Ambassador Roa uses disrespectful and sometimes offensive language never before employed in public by a Cuban ambassador to the Holy See," the cardinal said in a statement.
Ties between the church and Cuba's one-party state have been tense since the early days of Castro's rule. Following his 1959 revolution, as Cuba steered toward Soviet Communism, priests were expelled and churches closed.