14ymedio, Havana – The director of Palabra Nueva (New Word) magazine, Orlando Marquez, has resigned his post as spokesperson for the Havana Archdiocese, according to a statement released this Thursday. The spokesperson for Cardinal Jaime Ortega says that he has made the decision “for strictly personal reasons.”
“I believe in the need for change and renewal,” he said. “I believe that the time has come for me to step away so that others can continue the work, according to their abilities, styles and life experiences, confident that it will always be in service to the Church and to readers, from Truth and Charity,” Marquez wrote in a note that circulated to various media and personal friends.
The resignation was communicated several days earlier to the Cardinal and to the Editorial Board of Palabra Nueva, a publication founded by Marquez. A layperson, Marquez says he has never considered the magazine as something personal, but as a service to the Church and to Cuba. He said that the success it has enjoyed has been due to all those who have collaborated on every issue that has been published.
Marquez emphasizes that “although it does not seem necessary, I prefer to insist that there is no other motivation in this decision. My relations with my Archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, are excellent.” And he added, “Working with him for 25 years has been a privilege and a constant learning opportunity and, I would add, an authentic human relationship.”
As of Thursday, Marquez resigns from any other “direct responsibility for the publication,” and he says that “it is up to Cardinal Ortega to appoint the new director of Palabra Nueva.”
Last February, Marquez gave a lecture at the Convent of San Juan de Letran in Havana where he was questioned from the audience about the relationship between the Church and the Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The speaker acknowledged that “ultimately it is a relationship between the Church and an ideology, and an ideology that sees the Church always under suspicion.”