Cardinal Jaime Ortega, archbishop of Havana, praised the value of truth and freedom ``understood in the Christian manner,'' without excesses or limitation, during a 30-minute address to the people of Cuba over state-run television Tuesday night.

Man must seek ``a freedom based on truth . . . so that truth, in the words of the Gospel, may set him free,'' Ortega said during his address, the first delivered on national television by a Cuban bishop in almost four decades.

Ortega spoke over the Cubavision network, sitting at a plain table, flanked by a portrait of Pope John Paul II and a statue of Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's patron saint.

The prelate's address focused on the dignity of human beings as an essential value of Christianity and on the thoughts of the pope, who will visit the island Jan. 21-25.

``We know his personal history . . . he is a fighter,'' said Ortega, who praised the patriotism of the Polish pontiff.

Referring to the situation of Poland after 1945, when it fell under Soviet domination, Ortega spoke of the pontiff's suffering.

Ortega underscored the pontiff's interest in man and his fundamental rights, principally his right to life. This, he said, implies a rejection of abortion and the death penalty.

``The Holy Father has a . . . very full view of the rights of man,'' Ortega said. ``One cannot honor some rights and abandon others. One cannot talk about certain freedoms, forgetting the basic freedoms: to [have] food, the possibility of having children, of curing disease, to study and make something of oneself. Rights cannot be selective. They are all complementary.''

To the pope, the worst injustice is poverty, Ortega said, and that is why he rejects anything that ``enriches some people to the detriment of others.''

In this connection, the archbishop said, ``the Holy Father is concerned by any kind of economic sanction, of economic measure that could harm people . . . specifically, a region of Earth, a country.''

``And he clearly rejects any such measures, as he has [rejected] the embargoes or blockades against Iraq, Cuba -- on more than one occasion -- and other countries.''