Francisco Oves-Fernandez

Who was Francisco Oves-Fernandez?

Francisco Ricardo Oves-Fernandez was the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Havana.

He studied in the Seminary of San Basilio Magno, El Cobre, Oriente, Cuba. He was later sent by the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Mons. Enrique Pérez-Serantes, to study at the Pontificia Universidad de Comillas in Spain.

He was ordained a priest on April 13, 1952, by Mons. Enrique Pérez-Serantes, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, in the Cathedral of Camagüey. In the Diocese of Camagüey he was assigned to the parish of Santa Cruz del Sur from 1952–1961 and director of TV programing. After the Cuban revolution of 1959, he was one of the first priests to realize the Marxist-Leninist orientation of the revolution. In April 1961, after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, he was expelled from Camagüey along with other members of the clergy. He took refuge in Havana along with Mons. Eduardo Boza-Masvidal, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana. In September 1961, he was exiled to Spain on the ship Covadonga along with Mons. Boza and more than another 150 priests. He went to Rome with Mons. Boza and Father Agnelio Blanco and had an interview with Pope John XXIII. While in Rome he received a Doctorate in Social Sciences from Pontificia Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino. In 1965, the head of mission of the Vatican in Cuba Mons. Cesare Zacchi, was able to get Father Oves returned to Cuba. The Bishop of Camagüey, Mons. Adolfo Rodríguez-Herrera opposed his return to Cuba. He was a professor at the San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary in Havana.