Thursday, February 9, 2012

Reports of Castro Confessing to Pope Stir Buzz

Reports of Castro Confessing to Pope Stir Buzz
Wednesday, 08 Feb 2012 05:56 PM
By Mike Tighe

Imagine the line queued up behind Fidel Castro — he of the hours-long
speeches to the Cuban people he led for almost five decades — if he went
to confession when Pope Benedict XVI comes to town. And, of course, if
the pontiff has time during his visit to the communist island nation in
March.

What goes on in the confessional obviously would be a private matter
between the 85-year-old former Cuban dictator and God. But reports in
two major Italian newspapers that he is inclined to seek forgiveness
have generated speculation about the possibilities.

"If true, this is a remarkable story — and one that has yet to catch the
attention of editors this side of the Atlantic," GetReligion.org
observes in a story under the headline "The Last Temptation of Castro."

A report in the center-left La Republicca quotes Castro's daughter,
Alina, 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 Italian daily also quotes a Vatican official who is working on
details of the Pope's Cuba trip, including a meeting with Castro's
successor and brother, Raul. "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," the Vatican official
told La Republicca.

However, some raise the issue of Castro's supposed excommunication from
the church in 1963. Some observers contend that Pope John XXIII bounced
him out of the flock; others say that's a misconception.

La Republicca quotes a Vatican official as saying, "True, in 1963
[Castro] was excommunicated by the Pope, but then that measure was a
measure almost automatic for those who professed Communism."

GetReligion.org also cites a Vatican Insider column in La Stampa that
says, "there is no evidence that Castro was excommunicated by Pope John
XXIII."

Besides, excommunication doesn't bar reconciliation with the church if a
penitent seeks forgiveness and is absolved.

Those who note Castro's former hard-line position against religion cite
his attending Mass during Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit to Cuba as
proof the ailing dictator had softened on matters of faith.

And Matthew Cantirino addresses the significance of a possible
reconciliation in his First Thoughts column at the First Things website,
writing: "But an event like this, if it does indeed occur, would
represent such a poetic, almost-unbelievable Medieval occurrence that it
is bound to seem, to many of us in the first world, like some sort of
political ploy or cynical biographical touch. Yet even if political
motives figure in Castro's decision [which they no doubt do to some
extent], that should not necessarily not take away from the enormity of
the event. A political leader's conversion, especially one whose entire
governmental philosophy has at its core atheistic materialism, has to be
scrutinized for the public effect it will have. In Castro's case, it is
difficult to conceive how the effect would be anything but an enormous
positive for Cuba's repressed Christian community."

Amid the speculation, many Cuban bloggers insist that the Pope should
cancel his trip, "their main concern being that the Vatican is putting
its stamp of approval on the Castro regime despite regular reports of
human rights violations coming out of the island," according to Global
Voices.

Among those violations are recent incidents in which the regime blocked
people from attending church.

"Just weeks before Pope Benedict's visit to Cuba in March, another
Sunday on the island — February 5th 2012 — was marked by an excessive
level of violence on behalf of the dictatorship against the peaceful
Resistance, for simply trying to attend church," Global Voices quotes a
blogger as writing.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Castro-Pope-BenedictXVI-Cuba/2012/02/08/id/428877

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