Latin-American Studies

Cuba has experienced a lot of changes as far as religion is concerned from the pre-revolutionary period to the present. Cubas religion in the sixteenth century was known as the African Spiritism. This was the type of the religion that the Africans who were initially from Yoruba (Nigeria) practiced. The introduction of the Roman Catholic religion happened prior to the Cuban revolution. The religion was introduced by the Spanish colonizers and was followed by over half of the Cuban population then. As a result of its introduction, there emerged a combination of both the catholic rites and African worship which was known as Santeria, practiced by many Cubans. The syncretic Afro-Cuban Santeria religion adopted cultural heritages from both the Yoruba people of Nigeria and the Catholics. The Santeria religion gave African deities names to Christian saints, including Mary.   It was then engrained in the Cuban culture and was respected by other religions like the Presbyterian, Baptist and the Methodists (Everyculture, 2010).


My purpose in writing this paper is to discuss religion during the Cuban revolution by focusing on the Catholic Churchs changing relationship towards the revolution. During this time frame, the Church went from supporting and siding with the revolution, to confronting it, and finally being silenced by it. Through extensive research and the interpretation of primary sources, this essay will give a basic understanding of the relationship between the church and the state during the Cuban Revolution. I anticipate arguments and opinions that are different from my own due to the complexity of the subject I wish to portray, but I intend to answer the question of how the Cuban revolution impacted the Cuban Catholic Church. The essay will show how the political views and beliefs by Castro and his followers during the Cuban Revolution weakened the Catholic Churchs role in the Cuban society. Finally, the essay will also illustrate the necessary steps the Church had to make in order to reinstate itself in the Cuban society.

The Catholic Church under Fulgencio Batista
Cuban Christianity went through much suffering at the time the country was fighting for its independence in 1902.This was because the church supported the colonizing Spanish regime. As a result, the government and the church had to separate officially. In March 1958, the Roman Catholic Church made an appeal to President Fulgencio Batista. A government of national union, was demanded by the church, but this annoyed the government circles. This led to the declaration of withholding radio stations and newspapers against broadcast and publication. The declaration demanded for preparation for the restoration of normal political life (Mainwaring, 1986).

At one position, the church found itself in a dilemma, whether to be on the side of Fulgencio Batista so that they could continue having influence or to assume a moral and political position consciously. The church formed the Catholic action which had the role of observing the Catholic Episcopal hierarchy roles in terms of its political and social roles. In 1950, the Catholic Church decided to respond to Batistas dictatorship. The churchs magazines showed the differences that existed between the dictators regime and the revolutionaries (Mainwaring, 1986).

The Cuban Revolution
The Cuban revolution traces back to 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista (Wright, 2001). Castro had strong support at the start of his rule. He however advocated for communism, and this made the US make attempts to overthrow him (Library think quest, 2003).

When Fidel Castro came into power, the initial response of the Cuban to the revolution was positive, as they thought that Castro would support them because he had been a member of the Catholic action during his college days in Havana. In one of the publications of the Catholic Church, it praised the revolution as a transcendental stage for Cuba. However, the Catholic Church did not stop attacking his communist ways. The Catholic Church wanted a situation whereby Cuba would be encouraged to adopt a catholic form of socialism instead of fully affiliating with the Soviet Bloc (Park, 2005).

Castros religious background
        Castros opposition to Christianity traces back to his background during his days as a student. Castro went through the Jesuit education system which was Christian based, as his parents were strong Catholics. Castro opposed the Jesuit education, especially the morality views he was taught. He viewed all what he was taught as morals to be irrational as it only stressed on the will to believe. As a boy, he disliked the silence that the students were obliged to maintain every time there were religious retreats. He also loathed all the times he had to sit down to listen to sermons about rewards, punishment and hellfire (Cox, 1987).

Castros relationship with the church
        Castro, throughout his leadership has survived four popes. There were strained relationships between the Vatican and Cuba as a result of human rights violation by Castro. Also, the Catholic Church was unable to attack the Castro regime on social and political grounds, and there was no spread of the theology of liberation in Latin America. The Catholic Church in Cuba suffered the effects of the rupture after Castro came into power. The rupture is the period when some Cubans fled the Island to other parts of America, mainly Florida, due to the violation of human rights during his leadership (Park, 2005).

Castro nationalized the property that belonged to the church, ordered the closure of the catholic schools and the expulsion of one hundred priests. Several members of the Catholic clergy fled to the United States and Spain. Castro silenced the church and declared Cuba an atheist state. However, the Catholic Church in Cuba did not give up operating in disguise ways, and the church in Diaspora continued to support the Cubans (Park, 2005).

        During the 60,s, the church was subjected to a lot of persecution by Castro. According to Pastor Clara, the first woman president of the Cuban Baptist Society, a lot of hostility towards religion existed immediately after the 1959 revolution. In her pamphlet With Open Heart, the decade that followed the revolution period was chaotic. The supporters of the revolution stated that it was not advisable for parents to allow their children to go to church. All religious believers were described as ignorant, irrational and diffident. The religious believers suffered a lot of discrimination at their places of work an in schools. As a result, many of the religious believers opted to conceal their faith. The government was more than determined to promote atheism. There was a mass departure of Christians from the Island whish discouraged any open expressions in terms of religion. Several parents at this time were unwilling to encumber their young ones with the difficulties associated with Christian baptism (Oliva, 1994).

The church was against Castros policy on communism as it violated the human rights of the Cubans. That is the reason why the church revolted against his leadership. Castros argument however did not change .He strongly believed that one could be a Christian and still work together with communists to change the world. Shortly after the start of his leadership, Castro expelled many Spaniard and Cuban priests. In a bid to hide his reasons, he publicly declared that he had done that because the priests had neglected the poor and were working with the rich only. This had an ironic twist as he had expelled them because they had opposed his communist ways (Cox, 1987). 

    Relationship between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government was tense as a result of the revolution. The church was denied the permission of owning independent press bodies. No schools, hospitals and nursing homes were supposed to be established by the Catholic Church and no priest was supposed to be trained. Castro even blocked trained catholic priests from coming to Cuba (Cox, 1987). 

A lot of changes occurred in the church once the Cuban revolution came to be. All those bishops or church leaders that had been collaborating with Batista fled because of fearing his acts of revenge. There were groups like The Holy See which emerged so as to advocate for more church presence in Cuba, and to establish stronger ties with the Cuban government. The church was prepared to campaign. The archbishop of Havana was promoted to the Cardinals College. The church was now more than ready to advocate for reconciliation, even though they faced many bans, like the media and the freedom of expression (Mainwaring, 1986).

Castro always feigned to be a Christian supporter every time an influential person visited the country. During Reverend Jesse Jacksons visit in 1985, Fidel attended a meeting held by catholic bishops and also attended a church service in a Methodist church. At the time of Jesses visit, he went ahead and saluted the Latin Americas Christian democratic parties. This was indeed a behavior of Castro, as it is during such instances that he preached what he secretly loathed and never practiced (Cox, 1987).

The Religious awakening
    Cardinal Rogers, a top Vatican official and Castro had a meeting in Havana in the late 80s.This was as a result of the popes disclosure on his intended visit to Cuba. The news was warmly welcomed by the Cuban Catholic Church, and for the first time since 1960, Castro bowed down to the request of the pope. The Catholic Church had the liberty of holding street processions and open air masses. During the visit by Pope John Paul 11 in 1998, a new stage began, which was the stage of reconciliation. Religion, after so long a time got attention and it reentered the public sphere. The Cubans did not have any fear of going to church or expressing themselves in terms of religion (Cardona, 2006).  

The pope urged the Cubans to work very hard towards making a great Cuban future and have a national reconciliation. Since there were Cubans who had fled the country, they also had to reconcile with those who lived in the island.  Holly Ackerman, from the catholic archdiocese of Miami stated that, Because we espouse no political ideology, and preach only the love of Christ, we can provide a safe place where Cubans with different views can come together, reflect on their experiences and arrive at a common course of action (Park, 2005).

The Pope criticized the killings of the Christian workers that were made by the regime and paramilitary rule during his visit. He held outdoor masses and drew great crowds. He even had permission to give egalitarian speeches. The Cuban government permitted papal messages to Cubans pertaining to the importance of religion. There was access to the press, and the popes messages were printed on the government-run newspaper, Granmas front page. Castro went ahead and declared Christmas a public holiday (Wall, 1998).    

     The American president at that time, President Clinton declared his interest to reunite Cuba and America. However, Clinton needed a gesture that would assure his political cover. As a result, Castro changed the Cuban institution in a bid to change the official aesthetic stance. This opened a channel for the Cuban citizens to acknowledge their faith publicly (Wall, 1998).

    The visit of the pope led to a religious awakening. A religious rebirth became discernible, and there was a remarkable birth of Protestant and Catholic churches in Cuba. Castro started denouncing his past acts and claimed that he was not against Christianity but was advocating for complete adherence of communism. The constitution was amended in a bid to prohibit intolerance against persons based on their religious beliefs. Therefore the believers were promoted to complete citizenship and were guaranteed equal protection by the law (Oliva, 1994).

The current state of Cubas religion
    Presently, there are many renowned religious denominations in Cuba. The Catholic Church is the chief religion. It is the largest and the most organized. Protestant denominations continue to sprout up, though. The Cuban constitution gives the citizens the freedom of religion. The Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterians   belong to the CCC (Cuban Council of churches).There is no favoritism that exists towards particular religions and churches which are members of CCC.
 Unlike the past, the unregistered religious groups however experience minimal harassment, repression and official interference. Surveillance of the religious groups is not monitored by the Ministry of Interior. The Catholic Church operates in high freedom and pressure imposed by the Cuban regime. The church has now gained full access to the media, and it is no longer wrong to train priests or allow the entry of foreign priests in Cuba for work purposes (Nuccio, 1998).

As a result of the discussions on reconciliation, there is no rivalry between the church and the government. The bishops once held a meeting with the Cuban authorities, and asked for help for the young Latin Americans who were studying religion and they got a positive response. The local Catholic Church was given the mandate to mediate between the prisoners and the government. The government of Cuba has continued to relate with the church in a friendly manner more than before, and they have higher expectations since they have a new leader, Raul Castro (Park, 2005).

Cuba has come a long way from its revolution period as far as religion is concerned. From Batistas regime, a lot of changes have occurred in the church, as the relationship between the two changed from bad to worse. Thanks to the popes intervention, the country would still be an atheist society. The Cubans are now hopeful of better relationships with the church, now that the Raul Castro is the head of the Cuban government.