Between the People and State: The Catholic Church, Moral Engagement, and Popular Discontent in Cuba, 2021–2026

The paper analyzes the role of the Catholic Church as an intermediator between popular discontent and state power in Cuba from two perspectives. First, it analyzes how Catholic institutions in Cuba have exercised resistance to punitive state power directed at the people. Second, the paper examines the role of Catholic charities in the humanitarian crises that have unfolded in Cuba and discusses religiously motivated charity as an extended form of outreach into civil society by the Catholic Church. Overall, the paper argues that Catholic institutions have increasingly acquired moral authority and occupied a distinct role of intermediation between the people, their discontent, and punitive, authoritarian state power. They have done so by employing various forms of strategic engagement, highlighting the polyvocality and hybridity of Catholic socio-ethical presence under diverse political and social conditions.