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Last Temptation of Castro: Get Religion [To be Received Back into Church During Papal Visit]
Cranmer ^ | 2/4/12

Posted on 02/05/2012 2:58:27 PM PST by marshmallow

Fidel Castro will be received back into the communion of the Roman Catholic Church during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the island in March, the Italian press is reporting. If true, this is a remarkable story — and one that has yet to catch the attention of editors this side of the Atlantic.

On 1 Feb 2012, La Republicca — [Italy’s second largest circulation daily newspaper, La Republicca follows a center-left political line and is strongly anti-clerical; not anti-Catholic per se but a critic of the institutional church] — reported that as death approaches, the octogenarian communist has turned to God for solace.

ABC’s Global Note news blog is the only U.S. general interest publication I have found that has reported this story. It referenced the La Republicca story and said that Castro’s

daughter Alina is quoted as saying “During this last period, Fidel has come closer to religion: he has rediscovered Jesus at the end of his life. It doesn’t surprise me because dad was raised by Jesuits.” The article quotes an unidentified high prelate in the Vatican who is working on the Pope’s Cuba trip: “Fidel is at the end of his strength. Nearly at the end of his life. His exhortations in the party paper Granma, are increasingly less frequent. We know that in this last period he has come closer to religion and God.”

Some Italian websites have even speculated as to when Fidel will make his confession and credo — setting the date as 27 March 2012 at 17:30 when the two ottantacinquenni, Pope Benedict XVI and Castro, will meet at the Palacio de la Revolución when the pope makes his official visit to the head of state, Raul Castro.

During Pope John Paul II’s 1998 visit to Cuba, Castro attended mass, but did...........

(Excerpt) Read more at geoconger.wordpress.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Politics; Skeptics/Seekers
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To: MarkBsnr
>>However, how many people did the entire Catholic Church (not just the Latin branch) put to death prior to Nicea?<<

Oh the Catholic Church turned the job of execution over to the “secular” authorities. They fail to acknowledge that they controlled the “secular” authorities. It was a nice try at shifting the blame but all know the truth.

361 posted on 02/08/2012 6:24:21 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: CynicalBear

“We can’t stop Catholics from assuming.”

We? There are others suffering from your odd heretical views? Or is that just you as “regal sovereign pontiff the sole arbiter of the heretical church of one”?

Has your sect a name? Or did you just grab a google search and create your own little heretical “church of one”?


362 posted on 02/08/2012 6:24:40 PM PST by narses
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To: MarkBsnr
>>Interesting statement. Let us compare free will Baptists and hardcore Calvinists, for example. Still make the claim?<<

As I understand their beliefs neither one claims that baptism literally washes away sins. It’s a difference of opinion on infant or adult baptism. Both will agree that salvation has already occurred prior to baptism.

363 posted on 02/08/2012 6:27:03 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: boatbums

Typo correction:

*To* the point of discussion, Calvinism and Arminianism, both sola scriptura, arrive a very different theology and soteriolgy and all the rest.


364 posted on 02/08/2012 6:29:09 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: D-fendr
>>It’s so convenient to be nothing, devoid of history, attacking others at will, invisible behind one’s keyboard.<<

Why would I want to try to take any credit or glory like the RCC does? I give all glory and credit to Christ and His word. The RCC and their attempts to take Christ’s place and credit is not something those of us who stand one His word are likely to do. We point to Christ and the word of God. Catholics point to the RCC and the Pope.

365 posted on 02/08/2012 6:37:37 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: stfassisi
I would love to see you show proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Scripture is 100 percent authentic.Every version has authenticity issues,including the Catholic ones. None of this bothers me at all because I can see a flow of great unity for 2000 years of Catholicism and Church councils I believe are guided by the Holy Spirit to have dogmatic teachings that can never change regardless of even cafeteria Catholics who try and rail against this.

I would really like to know your standards for deciding anything is 100%. As far as "beyond a reasonable doubt" and "authentic", there is solid, beyond a reasonable doubt, proof that the Holy Scriptures we have are authentic, they are nothing short of miraculous. From the site http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago1.html, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, we can know without doubt:

    1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's witness to Himself.

    2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.

    3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture's divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.

    4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.

    5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.

In Article XIII of this statement, it says:

WE AFFIRM the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.

WE DENY that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.

There are additional articles that further explain the entire concept of Biblical Inerrancy, so I hope you will read further. We have every reason to rely on and trust the Holy Scriptures as the sure source of truth for our faith and it is because it is from God, himself.

I’m fairly sure someone like you must be applauding the Catholic Church stand against Obamacare against abortion and contraceptives . These Catholic teachings are fixed teachings on morals that don’t exist within protestantism that can be changed within even mainstream protestantism.

As a matter of fact, I am, and I join with all those who value the God-given right to life. However, you can not say that these teachings do not exist outside of the Catholic Church. Evangelicalism has always held to pro-life positions and, even more important, the vast majority of its members (more than even Catholics) vote for pro-life people and causes. It's more important that people actually follow their beliefs than just hide behind a label. Don't you agree?

366 posted on 02/08/2012 6:38:34 PM PST by boatbums (Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Titus 3:5)
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To: D-fendr
>>An aversion to crosses is a telltale sign of a Vampire Cult.<<

No aversion here. Just don’t need to use the imagery when we have Christ so close within us. It’s sad that Catholics need the external symbols, statues, and paraphernalia.

367 posted on 02/08/2012 6:40:33 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: narses
>>Or did you just grab a google search and create your own little heretical “church of one”?<<

Oh the church I belong to has billions of members.

368 posted on 02/08/2012 6:44:22 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: D-fendr; CynicalBear

OMG! And THIS coming from a cult that actually relish in the belief the wine they are drinking is the blood of Christ! It just gets funnier and better.


369 posted on 02/08/2012 6:46:49 PM PST by smvoice (Better Buck up, Buttercup. The wailing and gnashing are for an eternity..)
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To: CynicalBear

Ah, that’s so minimalist, so zen, so cultish..

:)


370 posted on 02/08/2012 6:47:53 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: smvoice

Yes, the early Church martyrs who died for these beliefs you ridicule thought it was a hoot.


371 posted on 02/08/2012 6:51:34 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: CynicalBear
Why would I want to try to take any credit

Au contraire, you take credit for passing all the tests of history you never had to take.

No church, no history, free as a bird to take credit for anything you wish and blame for nothing.

Very convenient.

372 posted on 02/08/2012 6:55:30 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: CynicalBear; narses
Oh the church I belong to has billions of members.

How do you know this?

373 posted on 02/08/2012 6:56:41 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: D-fendr; CynicalBear

I’m thinking more of those who were martyred for their stance against the lies of Rome. One of which was the lie that wine is turned into the blood of Christ because an alter christus commands it to be so.


374 posted on 02/08/2012 6:58:47 PM PST by smvoice (Better Buck up, Buttercup. The wailing and gnashing are for an eternity..)
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To: smvoice

I posted the list of the signs of a cult and ever since they have been doing the same thing they do about pedophilia. It’s the old “others do it too” or “so are you”. Not once have they disagreed that each of those signs of a cult apply to the RCC.


375 posted on 02/08/2012 7:04:45 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: D-fendr
>> you take credit for passing all the tests of history you never had to take.<<

I take credit? When did I do that?

376 posted on 02/08/2012 7:07:07 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: smvoice
Ah, history is not your strong suit either. Study a bit of the Roman catacombs and the eucharistic frescos, or read St. Justin Martyr (and try not to root for the persecutors):
And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, This do in remembrance of Me, Luke 22:19 this is My body; and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, This is My blood; and gave it to them alone.
Where was your church and its martyrs during this time?
377 posted on 02/08/2012 7:08:00 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: D-fendr
>>How do you know this?<<

It’s all in a book.

378 posted on 02/08/2012 7:08:29 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: smvoice; D-fendr

D-fendr likes parading that “martyr” meme out as if it’s some kind of proof of being right. Muslims die every day for their faith. That doesn’t make them the true religion either.


379 posted on 02/08/2012 7:12:27 PM PST by CynicalBear
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To: CynicalBear
I take credit? When did I do that?

Your church is perfect throughout all history isn't it? Aren't you one of "The Church of Those Who Never Did Anything Wrong"?

If not, please enlighten with an anecdote, a foible or two in, say, the middle ages...

380 posted on 02/08/2012 7:17:05 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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