Bishops launch first inter-American Catholic conference in Cuba

HAVANA -- (AP) -- Cuba's top church official criticized ideologies on both sides of the political spectrum as prelates from across the Americas gathered to discuss the church's role in the Western Hemisphere.

The death penalty, abortion, human rights and the U.S. embargo against Cuba all impoverish the people of the Americas, Cardinal Jaime Ortega declared during a Sunday evening homily in the Havana cathedral.

Christian love cannot be replaced by political ideologies, the Cuban prelate said.

Five cardinals, 25 bishops and one priest traveled to the Cuban capital for the Latin American Episcopal Conference, which will study how to implement Pope John Paul II's call during his visit to Mexico last month for more vigorous evangelization in the hemisphere.

Although the group includes 15 bishops from the United States and Canada, the focus appears to be more on the poorer nations to the south.

``Preserving the richness of our diverse traditions and cultures, the new evangelization should encourage an encounter with the living Jesus Christ,'' Ortega said after the prelates, dressed in white cassocks and miters, marched solemnly into Havana's cathedral.

The conference, the first of its kind in Cuba, comes shortly after the first anniversary of John Paul's historic visit to the island in January 1998. The meeting was announced last month in Mexico, during the pontiff's visit there.

In addition to the papal document on the Americas in the third millennium, the bishops will analyze the Cuban church one year after the pontiff's trip to the communist island.

Church-state relations in Cuba remain warm. Although church gains have been modest, church leaders consider them important in the once-atheist country, which had expelled foreign priests and closed church schools.

The bishops will meet behind closed doors and the results of their discussions will not be made public until Tuesday.