Posted on 12/11/2006 5:16:00 PM PST by Rodney King
He's a regular on Mother Angelica's network
Church officials here are under growing pressure to remove Fr. Raul Hasbun, a controversial TV figure, from Chile's Catholic University channel.
Hasbun is a Santiago diocesan priest and a strong supporter of former dictator Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, under arrest in London following an extradition request by Spanish courts,
Hasbun, 65, has a high profile in Chile. For many years he has delivered a "spiritual commentary" during the Catholic University channel's Friday evening news. He also conducts a regular feature on the Spanish-language edition of Mother Angelica's EWTN.
His words have irritated many Chileans in recent months. At a military gathering in August, he referred to Chilean Socialists as "parasites" and "bloodsuckers." Despite the Socialists' "intrinsically unpatriotic" attitudes, he said, some people are willing to allow them to "guide the country's destiny at the highest levels." The front-runner in Chile's upcoming presidential electoral race is Socialist Ricardo Lagos.
The Socialists immediately announced a lawsuit against the priest; they withdrew it in early September, however, calling instead for an apology. Advertisement
The apology has not been forthcoming.
Coming at a moment when church authorities are attempting to promote a climate of national unity, Hasbun's remarks provoked a vigorous response from church officials.
Santiago Archbishop Francisco Javier Errazuriz issued what amounted to a public reprimand, telling the press he was "deeply pained" by Hasbun's expressions. "This is not the way we'd like a priest of the Santiago church to speak," he added.
The priest's remarks "have been damaging. They hamper our efforts to heal the wounds of the past," declared Bishop Manuel Camilo Vial of San Felipe, general secretary of the Chilean Bishops' Conference. Bishop Tomas Gonzalez of Punta Arenas said that Hasbun's words "have nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus."
Two Chilean bishops, Fernando Ariztia of Copiapo and Carlos Camus of Linares called for the priest's ouster from the Catholic University TV channel. They revealed that several months ago a group of bishops approached Archbishop Errazuriz privately, requesting that Hasbun's TV spot be canceled.
Earlier this year, Hasbun made several public statements regarded as offensive by human rights groups, going so far as to defend leaders of the notorious Colonia Dignidad in south central Chile. This closed German-speaking enclave is reported to have been a secret torture and execution center during the Pinochet years; it is currently under investigation by Chilean courts.
In May, Hasbun compared Jesus' witness to that of the detained former dictator, prompting more than 4,000 Catholics to sign a letter calling for his removal from the TV channel and from the faculty of Santiago's major seminary, where he teaches homiletics and moral theology.
Undeterred, Hasbun flew to London in July to baptize a Pinochet grandchild and offer "spiritual comfort" to the family. He spoke of the former dictator's "great moral rectitude."
Coming from Hasbun, none of these expressions surprises Chileans: the priest has long been an emblem of religious and political conservatism.
Hasbun played a highly visible role in opposition to the elected socialist government of Salvador Allende (1970-73). Appointed executive director of the Catholic University TV station in 1972, he was in control of programming at the time of the 1973 military coup, during which President Allende died. Immediately following the bloody takeover, an around-the-clock curfew was imposed; troops hunted down thousands of Chileans, and great numbers were jailed and tortured. Many were killed or exiled.
In addition to his current TV role, Hasbun does spots on several radio stations, writes in a variety of local newspapers and magazines, and is a regular speaker at military ceremonies and at events sponsored by Chile's political right.
Whatever may be the outcome of the current controversy, it appears that Hasbun's star is declining. Within the last year, the Catholic University channel has cut back his airtime, offering space to Fr. Rodrigo Tupper, Santiago's vicar for youth ministry. Informed observers expect that after the dust of the latest controversies settles, church authorities will assign Hasbun to tasks that distance him from the media limelight.
By DAVID MOLINEAUX
And yet if this guy were back communists, I seriously doubt he'd get much more than a gasp and a pass...
I'm not sure where this attitude comes from. It's not like the socialists were the ones who actually put Chile on solid economic ground.
Granted, I don't know the history of this as well as I should to be commneting on it, so I'll leave it at that.
I'd trust Mother Angelica's judgment over the MSM any day of the week.
One of the few in the Catholic Church hierarchy that seem to understand what socialism is.
Yeah, that is the best line in the story.
Tell the truth on the Left and get in trouble. Did the Communists lose ? I don't think they have at all.
Castro y Pinochet
BY DQBAN22
Hay que ver la hipocrecía de la izquierda que tratan de demonizar como un monstruo al general Pinochet mientras que encubren los genocidios de Lenin, Stalin, Mao o Castro.
Comparar el regimen de Pinochet con la tiranía comunista de Castro es como comparar un resfriado pasajero con una cancer terminal.
Los muy desvergonzados se escandalizan ante los 2,000 muertos en la lucha del General Ponochet contra la subversion terrorista dirigida por Castro para crear una punta de lanza en el cono sur, mientras elogian al genocida de Cuba responsable por más de 100,000 muertos y el encarcelamiento a largos años de torturas inauditas en las mazmorras del régimen.
Eso es completamente independiente de las decenas de miles de muertos ocasionados en Latinoamérica por los terroristas y guerrilleros entrenados en Cuba, o los más de 150,000 de muertos que dejaron en África las tropas mercenarias de Castro al servicio de la expansión del imperialismo soviético, así como su participación en la guerra de Vietnam donde sus esbirros fueron famosos por el sadismo con que torturaban a los prisioneros de guerra americanos.
Es típico de la más pura ortodoxia marxista-leninista el achacarle al contrario los propios crímenes que cometen los comunistas. Quieren libertad para secuestrar, asesinar, volar en pedazos personas inocentes y que los gobiernos establecidos, muchos de ellos democráticos, no cumplan con su deber de defender el país y su ciudadanía. Así presentaron a como víctima de la represión del régimen de Pinochet a una terrorista que resultó víctima al explotarle una bomba que ella iba a detonar. A tal extremo llega el descaro de la propaganda comunista.
En cuanto a Pinochet, él obtuvo el 46% de los votos, perdió el referendo y le entregó el poder a sus opositores democráticamente elegidos restableciendo asi la democracia en Chile. Allende ganó las elecciones con el 34% de los votos y le entregó la soberanía de Chile a Castro.
Castro llegó a Chile en visita de 3 días y estuvo un mes, como capataz en sus predios poniendo cubanos en puesto claves para organizar los aparatos represivos. El pueblo chileno se tiró a la calle y no quiso ser un satélite de Cuba y el ejército chileno salvo al país del comunismo, esa doctrina perversa como dijera Pío XI que “que le arranca al hombre su libertad, y le roba de toda su dignidad.”
Naturalmente si usted le preguntara a cualquiera que haya vivido bajo un régimen comunista, sea el de Castro, China, la Unión Soviética o cualquiera de sus satélites, si prefiriesen vivir bajo el comunismo que bajo Pinochet se reirían de usted. Para ellos Pinochet no lo hubieran considerado ni siquiera como dictador.
También es de destacar que el fascismo y el nazismo son tan hijos del marxismo-leninismo como lo fueron el estalinismo, el maoísmo o el castrismo, todos son totalitarismo de extrema izquierda compartiendo los mismo fundamentos ideológicos. Recuerden que como buenos hijos de la misma madre, Hitler y Stalin se aliaron para repartirse el mundo y como buenos hermanos provocando la Segunda Guerra Mundial al atacar a Polonia por ambas fronteras. Como pasa siempre entre familias con pocos principios morales acabaron peleándose entre sí.
Quizás hubiera sido lo mejor dejarlos que se acabaran entre ellos; pero por medio estaba en juego el resto del mundo libre y el gobierno de Roosevelt estaba infiltrado hasta las más altas esferas por agentes de Stalin. El que se ayudara a los soviéticos era tácticamente correcto ya que en esos momentos era el mal menor.
La traición perpetrada en Yalta donde se le entregó media Europa para ser subyugada bajo la bota de Stalin, es lo que fue criminal e injustificable.
Mientras el legado de Castro ha sido establecer la mas brutal represión estalinista jamás sufrida en este hemnisferio y hundir a Cuba en la miseria, el legado de Pinochet fue terminar el caos en Chile y devolverle una democracia estable y prospera poniendo su país a la cabeza de America Latina.
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