Cardinal Ortega: ‘Oswaldo had a clear political vocation’
From the staff of Progreso Semanal/RPA
HAVANA – “Oswaldo lived the soul-wrenching role of a Christian layman with a political option. He was totally faithful to his ideas, which didn’t prevent him from being faithful to the Church to the end of his days.”
So said the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, during a Mass said Monday before the coffin of opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, at the church of El Salvador del Mundo in the neighborhood of El Cerro, Havana City. Three hundred people filled the small temple.
During the homily, which lasted about 10 minutes, Cardinal Ortega made it clear that political work was permitted only to Catholic lay persons.
“Now, then,” he said, “the call to a healthy political action and the request for spaces where it can be realized, which the Church submits to the governments, is something for laymen to make. The hierarchy, bishops and clergy in general must under no circumstances make partisan, political choices.”
Ortega, who acknowledged that the news of Payá’s death had caused him sadness and consternation, told how he met Payá after arriving in Havana as a priest in the Archdiocese. “His Christian faith, then and thereafter, was always firm and unwavering,” he said.
Regarding certain discrepancies between Payá and the Catholic hierarchy, Monsignor Ortega said that “some years ago, while visiting Havana as chairman of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal [Roger Marie Élie] Etchegaray had a conversation with Oswaldo, at which I was present.
“The Cardinal then said some words similar to those I’ve just expressed about the Church, the role of its pastors regarding politics and how they differ from the role of the lay people. With humility and a deep Christian feeling, Oswaldo replied: ‘I know it is so, although it took me a while to recognize it at first.’”
The Cardinal concluded by saying that “in the light of that faith [Payá] professed, we bid farewell to him today. Knowing that Death does not have the last word, we place him in the merciful hands of God the Father. May that faith be consolation and hope for his family and for those who loved him. Amen.”
