The former president of Fairfield University in Connecticut argued in an op-ed that U.S. sanctions against Cuba are harming the Church there.
Father Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., wrote that “while there is growing awareness of the severe humanitarian crisis in Cuba, in large measure brought on by the U.S. fuel blockade, few are paying attention to the damage that decades of sanctions are inflicting on the Catholic Church’s ability to serve the Cuban people,”
“The sisters who bake the hosts for Holy Communion for most of the parishes in Cuba can no longer provide them because they cannot use their ovens due to lack of gas and electricity,” Father von Arx continued. “Churches have appealed abroad for assistance simply to celebrate the Eucharist.”
“The Church has become one of the few institutions capable of accompanying vulnerable families, providing humanitarian assistance and creating space for dialogue,” he added, as he argued that “policies that further weaken the Church’s ability to carry out that mission ultimately harm the very people the United States says it wants to support.”