Posted on 03/17/2003 6:48:40 AM PST by Dqban22
JOHN PAUL II HAS ENDANGERED THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH IN CUBA
"Castro...bought the blessings of the Pope,...and a Church decoration that in fact represented a Papal Bull condoning all his crimes against humanity".
By Jesús J. Chao* Houston Columnist La Nueva Cuba March 15, 2003
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On March of 1938, Adolf Hitler annexed Austria to Germany. When the Austrian cardinal, Innitzer, publicly welcomed Hitler and urged Austrians to vote for the Anschluss, the prelate was summoned to Rome and made to sign a retraction.
John Paul II’s policies towards Fidel Castro are in stark contrast with the unequivocal positions taken by H.H. Pope Pius XI and his successor, H.H. Pius XII, when dealing with a tyrant (Hitler) who as Castro, persecuted the Church and murdered tens of thousands of Catholics.
You might envision where would the moral status of the Church be if in 1942, after the Nazi persecution of the Church and when the Pope already knew of the extermination camps, H.H. Pius XII had honored Hitler with a high decoration of the Church and sent as his envoy the Prefect of one of the Congregations of the Holy See with a personal message from Peter’s successor.
That is just what John Paul II did in Cuba after Castro’s 44 years of persecution of the Church and the murder of tens of thousands of Cubans, mostly Catholics, many of whom died shouting ¡VIVA CRISTO REY! ¡VIVA CUBA LIBRE! before falling murdered by Castro’s infamous firing squads.
In appreciation for allowing Castro the opening in Havana of a convent for the Swedish Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Brigid, the general abbess, mother Tekla Famigletti, bestowed on Fidel Castro one of her religious order's honors, the Ecumenical Cross with the Star of the Commander of St. Brigid. Honoring the ceremony was del Papal personal representative, Crescinzio Cardinal Sepe, Prefect for the Pontifical Congregation for the Evangelization of the Nations and the Mexican Archbishop of Guadalajara, Juan Cardinal Sandoval.
Corresponding to such a high honor, Castro bestowed the medal of the Order of Felix Varela, First Grade, to Mother Tekla Famiglietti. Everything was so outrageous that the whole ceremony bordered on the sacrilegious.
Castro proved to be a shrewd horse trader. After expelling hundreds of priests and confiscating from the Church more than 150 Catholic schools and most of its properties in Cuba, by allowing a Mexican millionaire to pay for the convent, he bought the blessings of the Pope, and a Church decoration that in fact represented a Papal Bull condoning all his crimes against humanity. Castro, once again, outsmarted the Pope, as he has outsmarted most of the secular and religious world leaders during his 44 years reign of terror.
These Vatican’s policies have unquestionably damaged the future of the evangelization in Cuba, even though Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, as a show of respect for the suffering of the Cuban people, was not present at the ceremonies, and the Cuban Bishops’ Conference published a letter criticizing the exchange of decorations and excessive pleasantries.
In the document the Cuban bishops made clear that “the Cuban Church did not have any participation neither in the preparation or the coordination of the program. Neither Cardinal Ortega, nor any other Cuban bishop was present, nor they were officially represented by any cleric from the Archdioceses of Havana or from the Cuban Church.”
The Cuban bishops had released a pastoral letter less than two weeks ago urging the government to ease up on its harsh treatment of citizens. Cuba’s top Roman Catholic clergyman, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, said in that letter: "The hour has come to pass from being a legalistic state that demands sacrifices and settles accounts to a merciful state willing to offer a compassionate hand before imposing controls and punishing infractions.”
The relationship between the Pope and Castro has raised deep discontent among the persecuted Cuban Catholics. Since their first encounter at the Vatican, the Pope received the Cuban tyrant as a very beloved prodigal son. It was the first affront of John Paul II to the dignity of the Cuban people. It was an appeasement policy maintained by the Holy See, regardless of the crimes committed to this day by Fidel Castro.
On the other hand, John Paul II had repeatedly denied an audience to prestigious and honorable members of the Cuban Diaspora. Unfortunately, the Pope has profoundly damaged the moral status and the future of the Church in Cuba.
John Paul II has traveled the world asking for forgiveness for all the alleged offenses and sins, real or unfounded, committed by other Popes in another time.
John Paul should make his own soul searching about his dealing with the Cuban tragedy. I wonder when is he going to ask forgiveness from the Cuban people for his lack of sensitivity towards the suffering of our people during the 44 years of bondage under the communist rule?
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I suppose the Pope should have told the Catholics of Cuba - "Sorry, I won't do anything for you. Just gonna let you rot there. It's more important to me to adhere to strict ideological purity than to spread the Gospel".
Sick and tired of this naysaying garbage. If a dictator can be convinced to allow Christ to be preached in exchange for a silly medal, so be it.
Time for him to step down with dignity before all his progress and dignity is lost.
Don't become another Nelson Mandela!!
This similar betrayal by the National Council of Churches illustrates the author's point, I think:
Armando Valladares, the Christian poet who served 22 years in Castro's gulag, testifies that Cuban officials used pro-Castro statements by NCC representatives to torment their prisoners. According to Valladares, being forced to listen to the sanctimonious lies emitted by Marxists in clerical collars "was worse for the Christian political prisoners than the beatings or the hunger." http://www.geocities.com/nccwatch/
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