Dr. Jorge I. Dominguez is a respected Latin American scholar who has a background at Harvard University spanning four decades. In hosting a John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on Cuba and the role of Catholicism, Dr. Jorge I. Dominguez brought in Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, as a guest.
As Dr. Dominguez described it, the church in Havana is small, yet deeply committed, as it receives no benefits from the state and has been severely punished during certain times in its history. Cardinal Ortega himself was sent to a “work concentration camp” during his early years in the church.
In 1986, the Catholic Bishops of Cuba convened their first nationwide conference since 1960, and this engendered a commitment to addressing broad social issues through their pulpit, rather than confine themselves just to strictly religious topics. Their efforts to broaden Catholicism’s reach in Cuba led to visits by Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict, and Pope Francis, which further amplified their roles in public discourse. Cardinal Ortega was also active for many years in fighting for the release of political prisoners by the Cuban state.
