MEXICO CITY — Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, the longtime leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba and a savvy political operator who aided the Vatican’s secret efforts to broker détente between Washington and Havana, is stepping down, closing an era in which the church became the only institution outside the government with any sway on the island.
His successor as archbishop of Havana will be Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, the archbishop of the central city of Camaguey, according to a statement from the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops released Tuesday.
Cardinal Ortega, 79, will leave behind a Cuban church whose reach is greater than at any point since Fidel Castro swept to power in 1959. Far from the days when Catholics were marginalized and the cardinal — as a young priest — spent time in a labor camp, the church is building new places of worship, tending to the poor, offering courses for aspiring entrepreneurs and prodding the government to speed up economic reforms.
His time as prelate, which began in the early 1980s, spanned three papal visits, including one last September by Pope Francis, as well as a historic meeting between the pope and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In mid-2014, he hand-delivered letters from Francis to President Obama and President Raúl Castro, in which the pontiff urged them to reach an agreement that would end more than half a century of Cold War acrimony.
“Ortega will go into the Cuban history books as a key player,” said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban businessman who grew up in Miami but retains close ties to the Cuban church. “He has pushed the boundaries very far.”
Still, some priests and political activists say that the cardinal could and should have pushed harder for greater religious and political freedoms. Some critics considered him aloof and said he showed apparent disdain for some of the Castros’ opponents.
Archbishop García, 67, the son of a railway worker, was ordained in 1972 and took up his present position in 2002. In choosing him to succeed Cardinal Ortega, Pope Francis extended his preference for church leaders “who are humble and close to the people in the parishes,” Mr. Saladrigas said.
What was not clear was whether the pope expected the new archbishop to take up his predecessor’s political mantle.
Mr. Saladrigas said, “Clearly everyone hopes that he will continue to push things along.”
A version of this article appears in print on April 27, 2016, on page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Cardinal Who Expanded the Church’s Reach in Cuba Plans to Step Down. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
