Dear friends,
For twenty years, you have walked alongside us in service of the Cuban people, in a mission that has already undergone several transformations. Because your trust is so precious to us, we wish today to inform you of a new and important development.
After two years of presence in the Diocese of Cienfuegos, under a one-year ad experimentum agreement, Bishop Domingo Oropesa Lorente, Bishop of Cienfuegos, has decided not to renew this mission. This decision was officially communicated on March 25, 2026.
This decision saddens us, just as it saddens the faithful whom we have accompanied, and leaves many in confusion. However, the bishop is responsible for the mission within his diocese, and this has been his decision.
These two years were lived with generosity, whether through the accompaniment of the parishes (Cathedral, Castillo, Paraíso, Ariza), commitment to the faithful, or the development of pastoral life as well as educational and charitable services. This time has been a gift, even if it is now coming to an end.
This chapter closing in Cienfuegos does not in any way call into question Mission Cuba as a whole. The mission in Placetas, founded in 2006, remains fully committed and continues to be the heart of our presence in Cuba.
For twenty years, this mission has become deeply rooted in the region: today it radiates through the parishes and communities of Placetas, Fomento, Báez, and Cabaiguán, serving more than 120,000 inhabitants. Priests and volunteers remain present over the long term, carrying out structured educational projects (boarding school, tutoring, training), concrete charitable actions for families, the elderly, and the poorest, as well as a dynamic pastoral life supported by catechism, rural missions, and youth accompaniment.
In a country experiencing a profound crisis, this long-term fidelity is an essential key to the mission. It allows deep roots to grow within local communities and enables lasting fruits to emerge despite difficulties.
The experience in Cienfuegos will have been one step in our missionary discernment; today we are concentrating our efforts where the mission is firmly established so that it may bear even greater fruit.
More than ever, Mission Cuba needs your faithful support to continue proclaiming the Gospel and standing beside the poorest, who are unfortunately becoming ever more numerous.
We thank you deeply for your trust and your commitment alongside us.
don Jean-Yves et don
Régis,
don Antoine, don
Stéphane, don Grégoire,
don Louis, don
Paul-Alexandre et don Martin
