Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez as metropolitan archbishop of Santiago de Cuba this Saturday and appointed Monsignor Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz, who was previously the bishop of Matanzas, to take his place, as announced by the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba on its social media.
García Ibáñez, 81 years old, had led the archdiocese for nearly two decades, since February 2007, when Benedict XVI appointed him to the position.
The prelate had already submitted his resignation in 2020 upon reaching the age of 75, which canon law stipulates as the age for bishops to offer their resignation, but he remained in charge of the eastern see until the papal decision this Saturday.
The change occurs just four weeks after García Ibáñez delivered one of his most candid homilies about the Cuban crisis at the Basilica Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, where he summarized the country's situation with a phrase that resonated widely: "We are in a bad state, and we don't know how to get out of this."
Throughout 2026, the outgoing archbishop had intensified his public criticisms of the living conditions on the island, becoming one of the most outspoken voices of the Cuban Church against the regime.
In May, he stated that "Cuba needs to change" and called for concrete measures to transform the country's situation. In September, he demanded "urgent structural transformations" and declared that "no people deserve this situation."
In July, referring to the exhaustion of the population, he acknowledged the widespread distress with words that reflected the magnitude of the crisis: "So many people are asking for help. And the help is not enough."
Cáritas Cuba, which was chaired by García Ibáñez, channeled approximately three million dollars in humanitarian aid since late 2025, with plans to double that assistance.
The new archbishop, Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz, was born on November 14, 1960, in Céspedes, within the archdiocese of Camagüey. Before his religious vocation, he studied Civil Engineering at the University of Camagüey, and later Philosophy and Theology at the seminaries of San Basilio Magno in Santiago de Cuba, and San Carlos and San Ambrosio in Havana.
He obtained a degree in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and was ordained a priest on August 5, 1989.
His episcopal career spans three assignments in less than ten years: Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Ciego de Ávila in July 2017 and transferred him to the Diocese of Matanzas in April 2022. Now, León XIV elevates him to the metropolitan see of Santiago, the oldest in Cuba, founded in 1522.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, of which Díaz Ruiz was vice president, warned in January 2026 that the country needs "increasingly urgent" changes and cautioned about the risk of "social chaos" if deep transformations do not occur.
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