Bishop of Holguín warns: “The current situation is worse than what was experienced in the 90s.”

"The current situation is worse than what we saw in the 90s, in the so-called 'special period'," said the bishop of Holguín, Emilio Aranguren, regarding the situation in Cuba and before Spanish Catholics in a call regarding the widespread crisis on the island.

Described by Aranguren as the "worst moment" of the many experienced in his long pastoral life, the religious leader spoke via videoconference with Spanish journalists to support the campaign "The Church in Cuba, where nothing is impossible," MDZ reported.

"There is a great shortage of essential products that can only be obtained at exorbitant prices," the parish priest pointed out to raise awareness among his listeners to support the Cuban cause.

He also referred to the issue of the shortage of medications. "There are many problems finding the necessary drug in cases of dementia, which makes patients very agitated and makes life very difficult for them and for those around them," he added.

Aranguren mentioned that Cubans face many challenges in their day-to-day lives and highlighted the importance of the support provided by priests. He also referred to the fact that there are relatively few priests in Cuba, who must travel long distances to serve their communities.

He referred to the situation of the Cuban Church as a reality with limited resources, emphasizing that it does not have its own source of income and primarily relies on contributions from the faithful, which are quite reduced in the current economic context.

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is promoting an initiative in Spain to collect donations to "support priests and religious in their survival" and to provide "material means for them to carry out their pastoral and evangelizing work," detailed José María Gallardo, director of ACN Spain.

The Catholic Church in Cuba has a total of 374 priests, making the country have the highest number of Catholics per priest, with an average of 20,872 faithful per presbyter.

On the other hand, the majority of the religious, which includes 490 nuns and 173 monks, are mostly foreign. There are only 27 seminarians in the entire country, which means that the fundamental support of the Cuban Church comes from the 3,699 laypeople, who occasionally open their own homes to establish small chapels where the Eucharist can be celebrated.

Amid the crisis that is increasingly exacerbating in the Cuban people, the church has also suffered its consequences.

According to the Catholic Agency for Information, at least 50 cases of theft and vandalism in 34 parishes and religious houses in Cuba have been reported since March 2023, most of these in Havana, with authorities taking no action to stop the phenomenon.

Even the Catholic Church in Cuba has faced issues with the supply of hosts due to the lack of flour affecting the country.

Several Cuban pastors have spoken out to alert about the scarcity faced by the Cuban people. One of them, Father Lester Rafael Zayas Díaz, delivered a homily on December 24, Christmas Eve, at the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, where he expressed his doubt about what he should say to a people living in darkness and despair.

"I confess to you something, perhaps this homily will be the most difficult one for me to deliver since I began my priestly ministry. What can be said to a hopeless people, in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?" the parish priest asked.