| Church positions | |
|---|---|
| See | Havana |
| Title | Archbishop of Havana |
| Period in office | 1981 – present |
| Successor | incumbent |
| Previous post | Bishop of Pinar del Río |
| Created cardinal | 26 November 1994 |
| Personal | |
| Date of birth | 18 October 1936 |
| Place of birth | Jaguey Grande, Matanzas, Cuba |
| Styles of Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino | |
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | San Cristobal de la Habana |
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino (born October 18, 1936 in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, Cuba) is the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Havana and a Latin Rite Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the second Cuban elevated to Cardinal.
Early life and ordination[]
He studied for priesthood at the Seminary of San Alberto Magno in Matanzas and in the Seminary of the Fathers of Foreign Missions in Quebec, Canada. He was ordained a priest on August 2, 1964 by Bishop Jose Maximino Dominguez-Rodriguez of Matanzas. He was assigned to various parishes in the Diocese of Matanzas from 1964 to 1966. He was imprisoned by the Communist government from 1966 to 1967. From 1967 to 1978 he resumed his work in the Diocese of Matanzas and was a professor at the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary in Havana.
Bishop[]
On December 4, 1978, Pope John Paul II named him Bishop of the Diocese of Pinar del Rio. He was consecrated bishop on January 14, 1979 by Mons. Mario Tagliaferri, Titular Archbishop of Formia, Pro-Nuncio in Cuba and assisted by Mons. Francisco Oves-Fernandez, Archbishop of Havana and Mons. José Maximino Eusebio Domínguez-Rodríguez, Bishop of Matanzas. He was later promoted to Archbishop of Havana in 1981. He was proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of Santi Aquila e Priscilla on November 26, 1994 and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.
Awards[]
In 2004, the Humanitarian Institution of Merit in Barcelona, Spain awarded him with the "Gran Cruz al Mérito Humanitario." He has been given an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Saint Thomas, Barry University, University of San Francisco, Providence College, Boston College and St. John's University.
Views[]
Like John Paul II, Ortega y Alamino has urged his nation not to construct a post-communist future on the basis of hyper-capitalist principles. In 1998, he warned of the insidious influence in Cuba of a "species of American subculture that invades everything: It is a fashion, a conception of life." [1] In September 1993 the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops, headed by Cardenal Ortega, published the message "El amor todo lo espera" (Love endures all things), extremely critical of the Cuban Communist Government and asking for a new direction of the country.
References[]
- The Miami Herald, April 13, 2005, From Enemy to Possible Pope
External links[]
- Havana puts on New Face for Pope by Phillip True, Express News, January 21 1998
| Preceded by Francisco Oves-Fernandez |
Archbishop of Havana 21 November 1981–incumbent |
Succeeded by incumbent |
 |
This article about a Catholic archbishop is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
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