Cardinal Ortega

The Catholic Church in Cuba is praying for the country's overall improvement in the new year, said Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana in a Christmas message.

“May nothing disturb social coexistence, may the overall situation improve next year, and may well-being increase so we can live in peace,” said Cardinal Ortega.

He said Catholic celebrations on the island were “a unanimous clamour of peace” from faithful “men and women of all ages but especially youth.”

Christmas, which had been missing from the Cuban calendar since 1969, finally became an official celebration after Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba in January 1998, when the Cuban government agreed to declare Dec 25 a holiday.

The government also withdrew the description of the country as atheist from its constitution in 1992, replacing it with wording that said the country recognises, guarantees and respects religious freedom.

Since then Cubans have celebrated Christmas with family gatherings and gradually have restored the tradition of setting up Christmas trees in their homes.

Trees also adorn some shops and hotel reception areas. A few Christmas trees are accompanied by Nativity scenes. Many Catholics went to midnight Mass after a traditional Christmas Eve dinner of roast suckling pig, black beans, rice, lettuce and tomato salad, cassava with sauce and dessert.

The Havana cathedral and nearly all the city's churches had Nativity scenes.

Although Nativity scenes were not available in stores on the island, a group of nuns in Havana handcrafted a small number of Nativity scenes to distribute through parishes in an effort to restore the tradition.

Cardinal Ortega marks 25 years with Christmas concert, Mass

Hundreds of Cuban Catholics marked Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino's 25th anniversary as head of the Archdiocese of Havana at a Christmas concert and Mass filled with singing.

A children's chorus and the John Paul II Chorus sang music by Cuban, Spanish and French composers, as well as traditional Christmas carols during the Dec 27 concert in Havana's cathedral.

Alina Orraca, the choral conductor, said the John Paul II Chorus made its debut at the Mass said by Pope John Paul II in the Plaza of the Revolution Jan 25, 1998, the last day of his historic visit to Cuba.

The baroque cathedral, which dates back to the 18th century, was decorated for Christmas with a Nativity scene at the entrance and another on one of the side altars near a tree adorned with ornaments and lights. Children acted out a live Nativity scene during the concert.

Cardinal Ortega said Mass, and the apostolic nuncio to Havana, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, as well as other clergy attended the concert and Mass.

The cardinal, echoing his Christmas Day message, repeated calls for peace in Cuba.

The Cuban Catholic bishops' conference has expressed concern about the situation in the island nation after it was announced that President Fidel Castro had undergone intestinal surgery in July, forcing him to temporarily hand over power to his brother, Raul Castro. Since the power handover, the future of Cuban leadership has been uncertain.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Ortega read Pope Benedict XVI's World Day of Peace message, “The Human Person, the Heart of Peace”, at a New Year's Day Mass at the cathedral. (CNS)