Cuban bishop says Holy Week came at time of more church-state harmony

Published: 2007-04-10

HAVANA (CNS) -- Holy Week in Cuba was marked with processions, a Way of the Cross through the streets of Old Havana and official permission to broadcast radio messages to the faithful. The celebrations came at a time when relations with the socialist government have been characterized by "a process of greater understanding," said Auxiliary Bishop Juan de Dios Hernandez Ruiz of Havana. For the third time in recent years, a Cuban government television channel also broadcast the Good Friday Way of the Cross from Rome, led by Pope Benedict XVI. The April 8 news program aired on all local TV channels showed images of the papal Easter Mass and part of the pope's Easter message. "After difficult times, the Cuban government is beginning to understand the role of the church," Bishop Hernandez told journalists shortly before leading the Way of the Cross on Amargura Street in Old Havana. He was referring to the confrontations between the Catholic Church and the government following the revolution in 1959, when the island's leaders officially declared Cuba a socialist country.

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