Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez

Archbishop of Havana. Member of the Permanent Committee of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba and President of the National Commissions of Missions and Family.

He was born in Camagüey and is the son of a railroad worker and his mother was a housewife.

He completed philosophical and theological studies at the Seminary "San Basilio Magno" in El Cobre and, subsequently, concluded his theological formation at the Seminary "San Carlos y San Ambrosio" in Havana as part of the first group that completed the entire period of priestly formation in Cuba.

He was ordained a priest in the parish church of Morón on January 25, 1972, when he had not yet reached 24 years of age.

His first years of priestly ministry were spent in the Diocese of Ciego de Ávila, erected by Pope John Paul II in 1995, both in Morón and in the provincial capital city itself and Jatibonico. In 1989 he was transferred to the Parish of Florida and other neighboring communities. He was co-author of the Popular Devotional "Los cubanos rezamos a Dios" and founder and director of the missionary school of the Diocese.

On March 15, 1997 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Camagüey with the title of Bishop Gummi of Proconsolare and received his episcopal ordination in the Temple of La Merced in the city of Camagüey on June 7 of that same year, with the imposition of hands by Monsignor Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera, who had also ordained him as a presbyter. His episcopal motto is: "Go and proclaim the Gospel".

At the end of 1998 the Diocese of Camagüey was elevated to the rank of metropolitan see (Archdiocese), with Monsignor Rodríguez Herrera as its first archbishop. Years later, following the resignation of the Archbishop, Juan García Rodríguez assumed this pastoral office on June 10, 2002.

He presided over the First National Assembly of Missions held in Havana in 2006.

Elected President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC) in February 2006, a period in which he represented the Cuban episcopate at the V General Assembly of Aparecida (2007) and invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Cuba.

In February 2007 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

He presided over the Beatification of Brother Olallo Valdés OH on November 14, 2008. As well as initiated the process of Beatification of his predecessor, Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera.

Throughout his years as pastor of the Camagüey church, he accompanied several works begun by his predecessor, including the operation of the Seminary "San Agustín" to welcome young men with priestly vocations and accompany them in their first years of formation. Similarly, the experience of a small farm that supports the self-consumption of the Diocesan House and other dining halls in service to the needy, among others.

He was part of the first group of pilgrims who undertook the journey of "The Route of the Virgin" from Cayo Morales -Bahía de Nipe (Mayarí)- to the Basilica of El Cobre, on the occasion of the Preparatory Triennium to the Marian Jubilee for the IV Centenary of the Discovery of the image of the Virgin of Charity.

He has maintained the bond of "Sister Churches" between the Archdiocese of Camagüey and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis (USA), as well as bringing to near completion the Nursing Home that the Archdiocese of Camagüey is building in memory of its first archbishop now deceased.

He presided over the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the City of Puerto Príncipe (Camagüey) which led to the restoration of several churches in the city.

Member of the Permanent Committee of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba and President of the National Commissions of Missions and Family, which is why he was elected as a representative of the Episcopal Conference to the Ordinary Synod of the Family in 2014.

On April 26, 2016 he is appointed archbishop of Havana by Pope Francis following the resignation, due to age, of the historic Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino and takes office on May 22 of that same year in a ceremony held in the Cathedral of Havana.