Cuban regime prohibits priest from carrying out the Corpus Christi procession

The Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) has prohibited Father Rolando Montes de Oca from carrying out the Corpus Christi procession in a municipality in the province of Mayabeque, arguing that this religious celebration is not tradition in that place. .

The priest made the complaint yesterday Thursday in the Facebook account from the Nuestra Señora de la Paz parish, in the municipality of Nueva Paz.

“Three days before it could be carried out, the Communist Party responds to the request for permission for the Corpus Christi Procession in Nueva Paz, prohibiting it,” reported Father Montes de Oca, who until approximately a year ago carried out his pastoral mission in the Archdiocese of Camagüey.

The priest denounced that “the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party has decided that in Nueva Paz we do not have the right to carry out a five-block procession with the Blessed Sacrament. They allege that it is not possible because in Nueva Paz it is not a tradition.”

“In any case, the announced schedules are maintained and we will make a humble procession through the hallways and gardens of the parish,” he informed the faithful.

Cuban Osvaldo Gallardo, a Catholic layman originally from Camagüey, who from the United States works as an activist for religious freedom, explained to ACI Prensa that these actions of the Communist Party are part of a “punishment” that it imposes on priests who dare to criticize the regime.

Father Montes de Oca is one of several priests who in recent years have denounced the lack of freedoms on the island, receiving insults and attacks against his home, as he reported in January 2022.

During the Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost, he referred again to the critical situation in Cuba, which continues to suffer from a shortage of electricity and food.

Just like Father Montes de Oca, who also faces the consequences of questioning the regime is Father Alberto Reyes, of the Archdiocese of Camagüey.

The priest had started a peaceful protest ringing the bell of the church as a sign of mourning every time there was a blackout. However, after two nights, he was ordered to stop.

Gallardo, who maintains contact with Father Reyes, indicated on his Facebook account that the Archbishop of Camagüey, Mons. Wilfredo Pino, told the priest to cease his initiative.

“Behind this ban, without a doubt, is the responsibility of the repressive Caridad Diego Bello and her Office of Religious Affairs at the service of the PCC,” he assured.

December 14, 2022Father Alberto Reyes denounced on his Facebook account that this office controls “the practice of faith” in Cuba and supervises “every movement of the Church.”

In addition, he wrote that the office managed by Caridad Diego Bello “calls the bishops and superiors harshly when what a priest or religious says or does bothers them, to try to get them to ‘bring that priest or religious into line’ while those really interested are left with clean hands”.

For its part, the Cuban media 14ymedio.com has pointed out that the pressures from the Office of Religious Affairs “are constant, but in the last three years, after the demonstrations of July 11, 2021, they have intensified, especially with the prohibition of processions and celebrations in numerous churches for fear of new protests.”