Pope Francis Receives Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana

October 23, 2022

Pope Francis received on Friday in audience a delegation of the Cuban Catholic Church, headed by Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana, the Vatican reported.

In the group that met with the pontiff were also Monsignor Emilio Aranguren Echeverría, bishop of Holguín and president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC), as well as its vice president and bishop of Santa Clara, Monsignor Marcelo Arturo González Amador, the Holy See indicated in its daily bulletin, in which it did not provide further details about the meeting, EFE reported.

Also present at the audience were Monsignor Juan de Dios Hernández Ruiz, bishop of Pinar del Río and secretary general of the episcopal conference; Monsignor Manuel Hilario de Céspedes García-Menocal, bishop emeritus of Matanzas, and Monsignor Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez, archbishop of Santiago de Cuba.

After the meeting with the Cuban delegation, Francis received Professor Rodrigo Guerra López, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Pope Francis visited Cuba in September 2015, while in 2016 he met with Russian Patriarch Kirill I in a room at La Habana airport, where both signed a joint declaration.

For the Beatification of Félix Varela

For its part, the Catholic news agency ACI Prensa detailed that the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, received supplementary documents in favor of the beatification cause of Father Félix Varela.

The press office of the Diocese of Santa Clara reported that the delivery took place during the meeting that the Vatican authority had with members of the Permanent Committee of the COCC on Thursday.

The one in charge of delivering the documentation was the Archbishop of La Habana, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez.

Félix Varela Morales was born in La Habana on November 20, 1788, became an orphan at an early age and was raised by his grandparents. At age 23 he was ordained a priest.

His greatest field of action was teaching. In 1821 Varela was elected representative of the Spanish colony of Cuba before the Cortes of Madrid.

That same year he embarked for Spain to defend the rights and freedoms of Cubans. Already in the metropolis, he presented three legislative proposals: the abolition of slavery on the island, Cuban independence, and a government for the overseas provinces. However, none were approved and they cost him exile in 1823.

The priest was forced to settle in New York (United States), where he lived as a parish priest and episcopal vicar. From there he continued defending human rights, the freedoms of Cubans and the Catholic minority against the Protestant majority.

For health reasons, he moved to San Agustín, Florida (United States), where he spent the last four years of his life. He died on February 27, 1853 and was declared venerable in March 2012.

In the decree of March 14, 2012, the prefect of the then Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Ángelo Amato, affirmed that "the Servant of God (Father Félix Varela) rises on the horizon of the history of Cuba as a notable personality for his human qualities and his Christian and priestly virtues".

"Among his multiple activities there was no lack of the cultural aspect, which had always characterized his personality, making translations and writing many works, both in Spanish and in English, of a philosophical, scientific, political and religious character, defending Catholic doctrine and also reaffirming the abolition of slavery and the independence of Cuba", he added.