Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santiago de Cuba (Agenzia Fides) – The Cuban Church has recently launched a web page for the Shrine of “Nuestra Señora la Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre” for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the image and its presence among the Cuban people. “It is a new link to unite us in fraternal communion,” said Archbishop Dionisio García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba, in his opening message on the website. The site is meant to be a place for encounter, prayer, and dialogue, uniting the faithful in the devotion to Mary, Mother of Christ and Our Mother. “Through this, we hope to discover the profound mark that the Virgen de la Caridad has left in our history as Christians and as Cubans,” the Archbishop says.
Archbishop Pedro Meurice Estiú, Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago de Cuba, has also written a welcoming message on the site, saying that with this instrument “that the Virgen de la Caridad de El Cobre is using modern technology to place herself in contact with her children, wherever they are in the world – inside or outside of Cuba.” “Now we have a new means of building bonds of brotherhood,” the Archbishop said, “and of forming a more visible ‘fraternity’ of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad.”
The Cuban Bishops’ Conference has declared a Jubilee Year in 2012, with three-years’ preparation time, which began this past August 30 in the Basilica of the Caridad in El Cobre (see Fides 5/9/2008). In the opening ceremony, all the Bishops of Cuba were present, in addition to the participants from all over the country. The Bishops have called for a pastoral program for these three years with the theme: “To Jesus through Mary, Charity unites us.” In addition, Cuba will also be launching a special mission, as it unites itself to the Great Continental Mission launched at the close of the American Missionary Congress (CAM 3) (see Fides 1/9/2008). (RG) (Agenzia Fides 11/9/2008)
