Has the Church surrendered to Fidel Castro?

Rorate Caeli ^ | 9/21/15 | Augustinus

[BlatherNaut]

As widely reported on secular media Pope Francis met yesterday (Sunday, September 20) with the retired ex-dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro. It is reported on good authority that it was Francis, not Mr. Castro, who sought this meeting; it was not on the official calendar of the visit. Francis had expressed his "sentiments of particular respect and consideration" specifically for Fidel Castro during his first speech in Cuba on Saturday evening and their actual meeting was, in Fr. Federico Lombardi's words, "'familiar and informal," with the two speaking about "protecting the environment and the great problems of the contemporary world." Lombardi also notes that Francis and Castro's exchange was "more of a conversation" (in other words, more relaxed and cordial) compared to the 2012 meeting between Castro and Pope Benedict XVI, when the former had peppered the latter with questions.

At the end of the half-hour-long meeting Francis gave Castro several CD's and books, including copies of his two encyclicals and (according to some sources) a book written by the latter's old teacher, the Spanish Jesuit Armando Llorente. In return, Castro gave Pope Francis a copy of "Fidel and Religion," published in 1985 and based on an interview with Castro by the Brazilian Catholic liberation theologian Frei Betto.

Some Church journalists will surely try to spin this as a last-ditch attempt by Francis to convert Castro, or as part of a quid pro quo to enable Francis to meet Cuba dissidents for political and religious freedom in the face of continuing Communist tyranny, or as a small concession to the ego of the father of the Cuban dictatorship in order to give the Church greater leverage in its struggle for greater freedom on that island country. If this was about indirectly helping Cuba's dissidents, then it has already met immediate failure: numerous Church and secular media reports (such as this) now speak of two dissidents who were invited to informally meet Francis twice, on Saturday and Sunday night. Unfortunately the two never made it on either day because they were detained by the police forces of the Communist regime.

As Catholics we certainly hope and pray for the Castros' conversion, but we have no illusions about the difficulties that stand in its way.

In the light of Francis's public words of esteem for Fidel in his first speech in Cuba, the most reasonable understanding that we can have of their meeting is that this was an expression of Francis' deep sympathy for Fidel Castro and much of what he stands for. There is absolutely nothing in Francis' speeches and homilies so far in Cuba to indicate that he wishes for the Church to more vigorously confront the iniquities of the current regime. Generic appeals for service and caring for others, or his declarations about "service that is not self-serving" or "service is never ideological", can and will always be read in different and contradictory ways, not all of which will be uncomfortable to the Castros and their regime. Some (such as John Allen) have tried to find in the Pope's words so far in Cuba a "gentle critique" of the regime; if they are, then they are so gentle that they scarcely feel like part of any critique.

Comparisons will surely be made with Benedict XVI who also met privately with Fidel Castro during his trip to Cuba in 2012 (albeit without the Pope praising or even mentioning him in public at any time during his visit). There was one big difference with Benedict XVI, though: on the way to Mexico (which he visited right before Cuba), Benedict XVI spoke to journalists and gave a gentle -- yes, gentle -- but unmistakable and unequivocal denunciation of the Cuban Marxist system:

Your Holiness, let us look at Cuba. We all remember John Paul II's famous words: “May Cuba open itself up to the world and may the world open itself up to Cuba”. Fourteen years have passed but it seems that these words are still timely. As you know, while expecting your Visit, many opposing and pro human rights voices were raised. Your Holiness, are you considering taking up John Paul II's Message concerning both the internal situation of Cuba and the international situation?

BENEDICT XVI: As I said, I am totally in accord with the words of the Holy Father John Paul II, which are still very up-to-date. This visit of the Pope paved the way for collaboration and constructive dialogue; a road that is long and demands patience but stretches out ahead of us. Today it is obvious that the Marxist ideology as it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality: it is no longer possible to respond to or to build up a society in this way. New models must be found, patiently and constructively. In this process, which requires patience but also determination, we intend to help in a spirit of dialogue, to avoid traumas and to offer assistance on the journey towards the fraternal and just society that we want for the whole world, and we mean to cooperate to achieve this. It is obvious that the Church is always on the side of freedom: freedom of conscience, freedom of religion. In this regard we contribute, as well as the simple faithful, to this forward journey.

Francis has not said anything of similar force or clarity so far, immediately before or during this visit. Naturally, as Catholics, we pray and hope that he will still surprise us. Nevertheless we now have every reason to fear that the Cuban dissident cited by the Guardian are correct:

Ángel Moya, a prominent pro-democracy activist, expressed disappointment that pope Francis had not been more outspoken on the subject of human rights, unlike his predecessor.

“John Paul spoke out clearly, but the current pope is too soft with regards to human rights. Cubans have a harsh life, but he has not been categorical enough when talking about civil liberties,” he told the Guardian.

Moya and his wife Berta Soler – the leader of the dissident group Ladies in White - were among several dozen people detained for several hours on Sunday by Cuban security officials to prevent them attending the papal mass in Revolution Square.

Moya - who was imprisoned for eight years - said the group had no further actions planned during the pope’s visit, but they would continue their campaign. “We’ll defend our rights with or without the pope. He is no liberator. It is up to Cubans to struggle for our liberty.”

[BlatherNaut]

In the light of Francis's public words of esteem for Fidel in his first speech in Cuba, the most reasonable understanding that we can have of their meeting is that this was an expression of Francis' deep sympathy for Fidel Castro and much of what he stands for. There is absolutely nothing in Francis' speeches and homilies so far in Cuba to indicate that he wishes for the Church to more vigorously confront the iniquities of the current regime.

[fishtank]

I’ll answer your question with another question.

What would anyone expect from the first Jesuit, liberation theology, pope???

[fishtank]

This week is the audition of the AC/FP variety show.

[ETL]

[ETL]

Catholics for Marx [Liberation Theology]
By Fr. Robert Sirico
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, June 03, 2004

In the days when the Superpowers were locked in a Cold War, Latin America seethed with revolution, and millions lived behind an iron curtain, a group of theologians concocted a novel idea within the history of Christianity. They proposed to combine the teachings of Jesus with the teachings of Marx as a way of justifying violent revolution to overthrow the economics of capitalism.

The Gospels were re-rendered not as doctrine impacting on the human soul but rather as windows into the historical dialectic of class struggle. These "liberation theologians" saw every biblical criticism of the rich as a mandate to expropriate the expropriating owners of capital, and every expression of compassion for the poor as a call for an uprising by the proletarian class of peasants and workers.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090321190909/http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=460782B7-35CC-4C9E-A2C5-93832067C7CD
__________________________________

Obama's Church: Gospel of Hate
Kathy Shaidle, FrontPageMag.com
Monday, April 07, 2008

In March of 2007, FOX News host Sean Hannity had engaged Obama’s pastor in a heated interview about his Church’s teachings. For many viewers, the ensuing shouting match was their first exposure to "Black Liberation Theology"...

Like the pro-communist Liberation Theology that swept Central America in the 1980s and was repeatedly condemned by Pope John Paul II, Black Liberation Theology combines warmed-over 1960s vintage Marxism with carefully distorted biblical passages. However, in contrast to traditional Marxism, it emphasizes race rather than class. The Christian notion of "salvation" in the afterlife is superseded by "liberation" on earth, courtesy of the establishment of a socialist utopia.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090321190904/http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=30CD9E14-B0C9-4F8C-A0A6-A896F0F44F02

[Westbrook]

By my reckoning, the Roman Church, as represented by Francis and his coterie of merry liberation theologians, has surrendered to almost all the pet Leftist causes.

The only one omitted thus far is abortion, but it appears that some cracks are opening there, too.

[ETL]

Liberation Theology and the KGB

Jay Richards | February 2, 2010

The presence of Marxism in liberation theology is well-known, at least to seminarians who are critical readers. Practically every seminarian reads Gustavo Gutierrez’s Theology of Liberation at some point, but most laypeople find it hard to believe that there could have been (and continues to be) a widespread attempt to hybridize Christian theology and Marxism.

Marxist regimes obviously benefitted from the spread of liberation theology in the churches. Still, I was not aware of any connections between liberation theology and communist clandestine organizations until now.

A new article by Robert D. Chapman in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence begins to connect some dots. In “The Church in Revolution,” Chapman, “a retired operations officer in the Clandestine Services Division of the Central Intelligence Agency,” argues that the KGB infiltrated the Russian Orthodox Church through Metropolitan Nikodim, the Russian Orthodoxy’s second-ranking prelate. Nikodim was a proponent of liberation theology. Nikodim was active in the otherwise-Protestant World Council of Churches. And the WCC, of course, became an actively left-wing organization during the last half of the 20th century.

Chapman also details the growth of liberation theology in Latin America—and the Vatican’s struggles with it—and the growth of black liberation theology in the United States. Prominent proponents of the latter include James Cone and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The arguments of liberation theologians should be challenged on their merits. The source of an argument, after all, doesn’t establish its truth or falsity. Still, it’s interesting to learn that liberation theology may have been, at least in part, a project of the KGB.

Unfortunately, this isn’t just history. Chapman concludes ominously:

"the Theology of Liberation doctrine is one of the most enduring and powerful to emerge from the KGB’s headquarters. The doctrine asks the poor and downtrodden to revolt and form a Communist government, not in the name of Marx or Lenin, but in continuing the work of Jesus Christ, a revolutionary who opposed economic and social discrimination.

A friend of mine, a head of Catholic social services in my area and formerly a priest, is a liberation theologian. He has made a number of humanitarian trips to Central America and told me, ‘‘liberation theology is alive and well.’’ The same can be said of its sibling in the United States [ie, Black Liberation Theology]."

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2010/02/liberation-theology-and-the-kgb/

[Kartographer]

“Is the pope Catholic? Not a joke, I really want to know.”

;-)

[ETL]

More on Liberation Theology and the Soviets
Catholic News Agency ^ | 5/15/2015 | Alejandro Bermúdez

Posted on 5/16/2015, 11:56:24 AM by observationdeck

If the Soviet bloc wasn't the mother of liberation theology, it was certainly a sinister stepmother, enlisting Catholics in a geopolitical cause and inviting them to sell their souls for funding and support.

Only the naïve can disregard the mountain of evidence connecting liberation theology with Soviet action in the region.

(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...

[Dr. Thorne]

Has the Church surrendered to Fidel Castro?

Only the catholic church. They surrendered to Marxism long ago.

The real Church of Jesus Christ will never submit to a vicious, anti-human, anti-God cult like Marxism.

[livius]

The Church hasn’t surrendered to anything. The Pope, on the other hand...

[SumProVita]

...but it appears that some cracks are opening there, too.

_________________________

Such as?

[ETL]

Re: James (Jim) Cone, founder of "Black Liberation Theology"

SEAN HANNITY: But Reverend Jeremiah Wright is not backing down and has not for years and in his strong stance on the teaching of black liberation theology is nothing new. He had the same things to say last spring when he appeared on "Hannity & Colmes:"

WRIGHT: If you're not going to talk about theology in context, if you're not going to talk about liberation theology that came out of the '60s, systematized black liberation theology that started with Jim Cone in 1968 and the writings of Cone and the writings of Dwight Hopkins and the writings of womynist theologians and Asian theologians and Hispanic theologians, then you can't talk about the black value system.

HANNITY: But I'm a — reverend

WRIGHT: Do you know liberation theology, sir?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354158,00.html
______________________________________

The Black church and Marxism: what do they have to say to each other
by Cone, James H. 1938- . Harrington, Michael 1928-1989

https://archive.org/details/TheBlackChurchAndMarxismWhatDoTheyHaveToSayToEachOther

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

The Pope is a Socialist.

Liberation Theology in Latin America and Social Justice here in the U.S. are the code words to politely describe the Pope’s philosophy.

[SumProVita]

YES, he is. However, many who call themselves “Catholic” seem unaware that the Pope is not authoritative in matters of politics, science, OR economics. Catholics may disagree with him on those. He has authority on matters of faith and morals and his statements have been traditionally firm there. Regarding faith and morals, the Pope has been absolutely in line with the ancient doctrine of the Church.

By the way, Kartographer, thanks for sharing your expertise here on FR. We have prudently prepared to care for ourselves and others and feel our spiritual preparation is THE most important preparation ...as it looks like the economic system is about to take a major hit. We are all are about to exercise dramatic TRUST/FAITH in the Lord (all of us of the Christian faith)....hopefully.

[ETL]

Previous popes strongly denounced Liberation Theology for the communist front movement that it is.

"Like the pro-communist Liberation Theology that swept Central America in the 1980s and was repeatedly condemned by Pope John Paul II, Black Liberation Theology combines warmed-over 1960s vintage Marxism with carefully distorted biblical passages. ..."

http://web.archive.org/web/20090321190904/http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=30CD9E14-B0C9-4F8C-A0A6-A896F0F44F02
________________________________________________

"Just one nugget from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Instruction on Certain Aspects of the 'Theology of Liberation': "...it would be illusory and dangerous to ignore the intimate bond which radically unites them (liberation theologies), and to accept elements of the Marxist analysis without recognizing its connections with the (Marxist) ideology, or to enter into the practice of the class-struggle and of its Marxist interpretation while failing to see the kind of totalitarian society to which this process slowly leads."
--Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, now Pope Benedict XVI [2008]; written in 1984

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/obama_black_liberation_theolog.html

[Jim from C-Town]

Has the Church surrendered to Fidel Castro?

Obama certainly has.

[onedoug]

Wait until he gets to øbama’s fagathon.

[ebb tide]

Regarding faith and morals, the Pope has been absolutely in line with the ancient doctrine of the Church.

Fr. Paul Kramer, editor of the Devil's Final Battle, would disagree with you:

Pope" Francis in Evangelii Gaudium n. 247: "We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked". This text is an explicit profession of heresy, directly opposed to the solemn dogmatic definition of Pope Eugenius III and the Ecumenical Council of Florence, and the doctrine taught by the supreme magisterium of Pope Benedict XIV in Ex Quo Primum, set forth repeatedly and explicitly citing the definition of Florence, to wit, that the Mosaic covenant has been "revoked" and "abrogated". I have been saying for years that when a "pope" will officially teach explicit and clear heresy flatly contradicting the infallibly defined dogma of the Catholic faith, then you will know that he is the false pope prophecied in many Church approved prophecies and Marian apparitions. St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Alohonsus Liguori, St. Antoninus and Pope Innocent III all teach that when the pope demonstrates himself to be a manifest heretic, i.e. a plainly manifested public heretic, he ceases to be pope (or, if already was a public heretic he was invalidly elected) because he is not a Catholic -- not a member of the Catholic Church. Bellarmine explains that the Roman Pontiff is the visible head of the Church, and the head is a member. One who is not a member cannot be the head, and therefore the election to the supreme pontificate of a public heretic is canonically null & void. The heresy of Bergoglio in no. 247 is such a clear cut case of manifest, public heresy, expressed in stark, unequivocal terms, that it can be said without doubt that if this proposition of no. 247 is not manifestly heretical, then nothing else can be said to be so. It is morally impossible that one who manifestly displays such clearly expressed contempt for a defined dogma of faith by plainly denying it, can be believed to validly hold the office of Roman Pontiff. St. Francis of Assisi foretold of the uncanonically elected pope who would not be "a true pastor but a destroyer". Bergoglio plainly fits the description.

Note: Fr. Kramer states that he is not a sedevancist; he just states that Pope Benedict is the current lawful pope.

[Dqban22]

Pope Francis claim to be the voice of the oppressed in the world, those who have not voice and whose pain is been ignored by the world. But in Cuba Francis spoke for the oppressors not for 11 million Cubans that have been brutally oppressed for more than half a century, their cry for help was ignored by the Pope. His hatred towards capitalism and the U.S. make him to ignore the horrendous crimes and misery created by the communists everywhere that “intrinsically evil” was imposed.