Retired Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Roman, who was considered the spiritual leader of the exiled Catholic Cuban community in South Florida, has died. He was 83.
The Archdiocese of Miami said the suffered from cardiac arrest at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, was transported to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before 8:45 p.m.
“The Archdiocese of Miami has lost a great evangelizer who tirelessly preached the Gospel to all. And the Cuban nation has lost a great patriot. Bishop Roman was the Felix Varela of our time," said Archbishop Thomas Wenski in a statement.
The archdiocese said that when Roman was appointed auxiliary bishop in 1979, he was the first Cuban to be appointed to that role in the U.S.
He left Havana in 1961afer being expelled by Fidel Castro's regime, ministered in Chile for four years before finally coming to Miami in 1966.
He oversaw the construction of the shrine and it "became a beacon for exiles from many nations luring thousands of worshipers each year," the archdiocese said.
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