Long-Term Effects of Pope's Cuba Visit Debated

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, March 20 — Four years after Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba, there is disagreement over what effect it has had on religious freedom, the Dallas daily said.

Though the U.S. State Department reports that the Cuban government continues to restrict religious freedom, a Cuban official cited the growth in so-called mission houses — informal churches operated from people's homes — that have sprung up in the country since the Pope's visit. There are 870 in the country now, compared to 560 a month before the papal visit.

Carlos Samper of the Communist Party's Office of Religious Affairs also said that public religious processions are now permitted, and the government has responded to the Pope's call for Cuba to open up to the outside world. The island nation now has diplomatic ties with 172 countries.

But Father Patrick Sullivan, who in 1994 was the only American priest allowed to work on the island since the early 1960s, said that although the government gave churches “extraordinary leeway” around the time of the Pope's visit, it began restricting religious freedom again soon after the Pope's plane left the tarmac.

The Church has only been able to open one new church in Havana since 1959. It cannot construct or operate its own schools, has virtually no access to Cuba's state-run media and still has trouble getting visas for new priests. Before the communist revolution, there were 700 priests for 6 million Cubans; today there are 281 priests amid a population of 11.2 million, while more than 300 priests and nuns are on a waiting list for visas.

But the Pope's visit had a profound effect for Andres Sotolongo, the Morning News reported. Before, he was an atheist. Now he spends his Sunday mornings teaching religion in a mission house.

Chinese Bishop, Faithful to Rome, Arrested

ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 25 — The Cardinal Kung Foundation has reported the arrest of a Chinese bishop loyal to Rome, but police told the wire service they know nothing of his whereabouts.

Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, 67, was picked up March 20 from his home in Zhengding, about 150 miles southwest of Beijing, the Stamford, Conn.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation said. Police in Zhengding and nearby Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, said they were not aware of the bishop's detention. Later reports said he had been freed.

Ordained a bishop in 1980, Bishop Jia has had trouble with authorities in the past for running an orphanage for mentally and physically handicapped children, many abandoned by their parents, Associated Press reported, quoting the Vatican's missionary news service Fides.

Philippine Bishops Discourage Crucifixions

DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR, March 24 — As Holy Week began, Filipinos were being discouraged from continuing a tradition of flagellation and crucifixion, the German news agency reported.

Msgr. Hernando Coronel, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the practices do not constitute penitence and are a “misrepresentation of our Catholic faith.”

Hundreds of Filipinos flog themselves with bamboo sticks tied to ropes and fitted with broken glass or nails during Holy Week. Some have themselves nailed to wooden crosses in the northern province of Pampanga. Msgr. Coronel said the Church frowns on the practices, which are often done to attract tourists.

If those who engage in the practices really want to repent for their sins, they should go to confession, Msgr. Coronel said, “change their way of life and be reformed.”