“Religious freedom, by its nature, transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and families… The religious fact, the religious dimension, is not a subculture, it is part of the culture of any people and of any nation.” Pope Francisco.
In much of the world, the Christmas holidays are prepared and celebrated with great emotion, fraternity and peace in the heart in many homes and in nations of Christian belief and practice.
Unfortunately I cannot say the same about my poor Cuban land because my country has been bleeding, exhausted, disillusioned and defiled from Punta de Maisí to Cabo de San Antonio for 64 long years.
Today there will be no Christmas for the thousand political prisoners, crammed into cold cells and mutilated in soul for raising their voices for freedom and in favor of Human Rights. There will be no Christmas for the vast majority of families, who have to survive in the Indian style of what is barely in short supply for the average Cuban, but plenty for the ‘robolutionaries’ with full bellies and sick hearts. There cannot be Christmas in a nation that has had the largest emigration in history this year, setting unprecedented numbers.
Nor for those who have had to suffer deportations and reach the harsh reality of Prison Island. There will be no Christmas for those who dissent from the dictatorship and are persecuted and harassed physically and psychologically by the absurd system. But when will there finally be Christmas?
The House of Cuba will truly celebrate Christmas as soon as it acquires freedom again in its deep heart as a nation. We will have Christmas when all the rights and full dignity of so many right-willed men and women are respected. We will celebrate Christmas with joy when we no longer have to mourn the death of the innocent and hear the heartbreaking cry of mothers for their children who die in the jungles or drowned in the sea. There will be Christmas when it will not be a dream to live in dignity as children of God.
In his emotional farewell words in Cuba on January 25, 1998, Pope John Paul II said and I quote: “Dear Cubans, as I leave this beloved land, I carry with me an indelible memory of these days and a great confidence in the future of your contry. Build it with enthusiasm, guided by the light of faith, with the vigor of hope and the generosity of fraternal love, capable of creating an environment of greater freedom and pluralism, with the certainty that God loves you intensely and remains faithful to his promises.”
I only ask Jesus Christ that it is for all of us Cubans the last dark night and that we can celebrate with joy and joy the Christmas that we really deserve so much and that Casa Cuba would greatly appreciate it.
