Cuban church reflects on internal life, pastoral goals

Published: 2006-02-20

HAVANA (CNS) -- Twenty years after the first meeting of bishops allowed following the Cuban revolution, the Catholic Church on the Caribbean island reflected on its internal life and main pastoral goals, with support from the Vatican. During the celebrations marking the February 1986 meeting, a milestone for Cuba's Catholic Church, the country's bishops unveiled their pastoral plan for 2006-2010. For Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cuba was the first stop on a trip that included the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where he was presenting the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The Vatican official even gave a copy to Cuban President Fidel Castro. In presenting the compendium to the Cuban bishops, the cardinal noted that the church's social doctrine takes into consideration people's material and spiritual needs and underscores "the deep sense of our common life, of our struggle for justice."

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