Papal Catalyst Cuban Catholics, Protestants Use Pope’s Visit To Nurture Their Ecumenical Relations

When Pope John Paul II came to town, the Rev. Hector Mendez switched Sunday services to the afternoon so members of the oldest Protestant temple in Havana could attend the pontiff’s Mass on the Plaza of the Revolution.

Earlier that day, the pastor of First Presbyterian Church had joined other Protestant leaders in a meeting with the spiritual leader of nearly 1 billion Roman Catholics. And, for one week, as the pope shined a religious light on Catholicism in this isolated island nation, old ecumenical acquaintances were not forgotten.

Similar to Catholic leaders in the United States embracing Billy Graham revivals, many Protestant leaders here welcomed the pope. They hoped that the papal trip would not only boost the ecumenical movement in Cuba but also would help them in their own evangelization efforts.

“I believe that when the Christian feeling is awakened, we all benefit, even those who are not believers,” Mendez said. “The opportunity to have a number of religious symbols displayed in such a public way is already a benefit to our society.”

Before Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, Cuba was overwhelmingly Catholic. But today only about 40 percent of Cubans are baptized Catholics, and as few as 2 percent may attend Mass regularly. An estimated 2 percent of the population is Protestant.

Official figures do not exist, but University of Havana religion expert Enrique Lopez Oliva estimates there are 650 Catholic churches and 900 Protestant churches in Cuba.

In addition, he said, homes across the island are regularly used for worship - 2,500 for Protestants and 500 for Catholics.

Before the revolution, as a growing minority with a competing school system, Protestant churches did not have good relations with Catholic churches. During the uncertainty of the early days of the revolution, relations were especially tense, Mendez said.

But relations improved greatly in the 1970s. The Second Vatican Council encouraged Catholics to engage in ecumenical dialogue, and Protestantism was influenced by new theological concepts that, Mendez said, “made us see the church as Christ’s body.”

Those relationships grew cold over time, Mendez said.

“However,” he said, “because of the pope’s visit, we have begun to again strengthen relations.”

Now, with the papal visit, both sides have tried to renew the sense of a common struggle for religious freedom in Cuba. The country was officially atheist until 1991 and still places strict limits on religious publications, new churches and outdoor worship.

In the month before the papal visit, Catholic and Protestant leaders held two joint services, one in a Catholic church and one in an Anglican church. The Cuban Council of Churches distributed 100,000 Bibles as gifts during the visit.

“I could not fail to have this meeting with you,” John Paul told Protestant leaders Jan. 25, “sharing as I do your concern for the restoration of unity among Christians and for cooperation in favor of the overall progress of the Cuban people.”

Later, in a meeting with Cuban bishops, the pope said the church should not demand a dominant or exclusive position in society but should have the freedom to serve the faithful.

“In this undertaking, and with ecumenical openness, seek the healthy cooperation of other Christian confessions,” the pontiff said.

At Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Rev. Raul Suarez said Protestants might be jealous of the attention lavished on the pope.

“If I make the interpretation as a Protestant, it is the strengthening of the Catholic Church, both from a pastoral standpoint and in the image in front of the people,” said Suarez, who also directs Havana’s Martin Luther King Jr. ecumenical center.

However, he said, there are shared benefits in the pope’s encouragement to strengthen the family and church and in the outdoor religious services conducted “with total freedom.” And during the pope’s visit, he also hoped that “he will leave us with encouragement to Cuban ecumenism between Catholics and Protestants.”