Cuba's Roman Catholic Church called on the communist-run government to soften its traditionally heavy hand and be more compassionate with its citizens.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Cuba's top Catholic churchman, signed the pastoral letter made public Monday night at a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Rev. Felix Varela, a priest beloved by Christians and communists alike as a powerful voice for the nation's independence from Spain.
"The hour has come to pass from being a legalistic state that demands sacrifices and settles accounts to a merciful state willing to offer a compassionate hand before imposing controls and punishing infractions," said the document.
Nevertheless, the letter noted the importance of the government's continued prosecution of violent crime, drug use and trafficking, "and all that corrupts and damages other people."
"Many of our brethren have returned to the church in Cuba looking for guidance about the future because there exists in Cuban society a diffuse and generalized fear about what is to come," the cardinal wrote.
The letter also bemoaned this Caribbean island's widespread sexual promiscuity, high abortion and divorce rates, and men who abandon their families.
"In Cuba, the matriarch is progressively becoming an institution and the crisis of the father is increasingly affecting boys as much as girls," the document said.
The prelate also mentioned poverty as a factor in the disintegration of Cuban families, as well as an important reason for emigrating to other countries.
"Although schooling and health care are free, salaries in general do not cover the cost of living," the document said. For many families, it added, the solution is "to leave Cuba."