Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cienfuegos (Agenzia Fides) - In this year 2007 the 50th anniversary of the Encyclical Fide Donum by Pope Pius XII, on Saturday 15 September the feast of the Mother of Sorrrows, a Spanish fide donum priest Fr Domingo Oropesa Lorente from the diocese of Toledo was ordained Bishop of Cienfuegos diocese in Cuba. The ordination took place at Immaculate Conception Cathedral Cienfuegos, and was presided by Archbishop Juan García Rodríguez of the diocese of Camagüey who is also president of the Cuban Bishops' Conference. Present for the event the Bishops of Cuba with Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, and a delegation of Spanish bishops led by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Archbishop of Toledo Primate of Spain, his two auxiliaries Bishop Angel Rubio and Bishop Carmelo Borobia, and Cuban and Spanish civil authorities. The new Bishop is the 7th of the diocese of Cienfuegos created in 1903 by Pope Leo XIII, and he is the first non Cuban priest to be appointed Bishop on the Island since the revolution in 1959.
Bishop Domingo Oropesa Lorente, aged 56, came to Cuba from Spain in 1999 sent as a Fidei Donum priest to work in the Archdiocese of Camagüey, at the request of the then Archbishop Adolfo Rodríguez, and in answer to a call by Archbishop Francisco Álvarez Martínez of Toledo. In Camagüey from 1999 to 2006 he was administrator and then parish priest at El Sagrato Corazón de Jesús at Céspedes. Since 2006 he has been parish priest of Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Florida. "I came not as a Spanish priest - said Bishop. Domingo - but because I am a priest of the Church and that is why I am here now in Cienfuegos".
After the ordination the new Bishop said his desire was to work hard: "I want to visit every parish, to spend time with the priests, deacons, men and women religious and lay people. I wish to listen to them and for them to listen to me. Together we will discern what the Lord wishes us to do. He alone takes the initiative, He will never disappoint us". He said he also wished to be united with all the Bishops of Cuba in their efforts to “care for the blessed people of Cuba ”.
Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, apostolic nuncio to Cuba, thanked the Spanish diocese of Toledo for generously offering priests for the missions and he thanked Bishop Oropesa for his willingness to serve the Church in this new ministry. For his part Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo expressed his readiness to continue to help dioceses which ask Toledo to send priests. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 19/9/2007; righe 29, parole 420)
