A Catholic priest from Cuba highlighted the harsh persecution of Christians who don’t kowtow to the Communist government in his native country.
Even the U.S. government admitted last year that the Communist Cuban government “tightly controls” religious worship and activities in the island nation through actions such as fines, harassment, surveillance, imprisonment, and forced exile. Religious groups or leaders must register with the government or face repercussions. That’s the reality that Fr. Alberto Reyes Pías emphasized during a panel at the 2024 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., as International Christian Concern (ICC) reported.
On the surface, it might seem as if the Communist Cuban government allows some religious freedom, Fr. Alberto noted, because “churches are open, worship is allowed, catechesis exists, young people gather, one can openly talk about God, possess a Bible, and wear religious symbols.” The catch is that such actions are only allowed under the control and surveillance of the Communist government. Try to prioritize faith over the current enforced political narrative, and you’ll quickly find out just how un-free Cuba is for Christians.
What the Cuban government wants people to see as “normal” is anything but, Fr. Alberto emphasized. It “is not normal, despite attempts to make it so, to have an Office of Religious Affairs led by the Communist Party, overseeing, and attempting to control every single movement of the Church. It is not normal for this office to pressure Cuban bishops to restrain the social actions or political actions of priests and committed laity,” he said.
He continued, “It is not normal to depend on permits for any public expression of faith. It is not normal to lack access to media communications and for the Church to be prohibited from having its own. It is not normal for different denominations to be denied access to the national education and health systems and be unable to have their own schools and healthcare facilities.”
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The most basic duties of clergy are treated as crimes. “It is not normal for the Church to be harassed for defending the innocence of political prisoners and for assisting their families. It is not normal for [persecution of] priests, nuns, and laity who, moved by their faith, speak up for the people who face harassment and defamation,” Fr. Alberto insisted.
He described Cuban Christians as having the “spirit of survivors” even as “this life of struggle” proves exhausting.
We systematically ignore threats and attacks from the Office of Religious Affairs and other state actors. We insist repeatedly on the permits needed to rebuild our church buildings and permits to express our faith publicly. We buy houses and register them under [the names of] trusted individuals to turn them into churches for the people. We distribute evangelistic materials by hand and use our personal social media networks. We find our own ways to obtain and distribute medicine, food, clothing — anything that can alleviate the precarious situation of the people.
Men are not meant to live in a constant state of war, Fr. Alberto argued, and for some 65 years now Cuban Christians have been “dealing with a system allergic to the central values of the Christian faith,” one that “is on high alert whenever it hears about truth, justice, freedom, and goodness.”
The Christians of Cuba will not surrender their faith; however, they do want to know that they have international support, Fr. Alberto ended. “We will continue to fight, despite the high price, but we need to know that we are not alone, that there are others who will speak up when we are silenced, who will defend the truth when others lie about a Cuban paradise that does not exist.”
He concluded, “We need to know that there are others who, day by day, pray for us to the God who unites us, asking for the desired freedom, the conversion of our people, and forgiveness for those who oppress us and need to open their souls to a God who is also their Father.”
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