Holy Father, with all due respect, your message has a hollow ring to it, as if it's made without a real desire for change to take place. Would that Cubans had their own Karol Wojtyla or Cardinal Wyszyński pushing real change. Cuba -- its government, I mean -- has opened its doors to the world for goods and dollars; its just that its citizens are not allowed to leave, or pray, or think, or read freely. The doors are only open if you have something for the beast -- a beast that has murdered many of your brothers in Christ.

Your inconsequential message is a sad reminder as to why I am no longer a practicing Catholic.

I had to reread it a few times to make sure I was reading it correctly.

"the world must open to Cuba. An opening that implies the verification of how to open heart and will to the things of God; how to mutually open towards our neighbours, believing and confiding one in the other, despite there are different ways of thinking and different beliefs: and finally, how to open in a world context, with the challenges of its possibilities and difficulties at the same time."

I think that the Pope is taking a bach-handed slap at our government.

I hate to say it, but I tend to agee with both Julian and George. On this occassion, the Pope should have shown a little more gumption. he can criticize the US all he wants - there may very well be much to criticize, but to equate fidel castro's Cuba with the US in these terms is absurd.

Of course he is, Julian. Ending the embargo is way more important than ending the slavery of the Cuban people.

Was there more to the comment of the Pope? Either my brain is fried, the translation was very poor, or he is non-sequitur. I've read it three times, and all your comments, and by the life of me I still cannot figure out what the heck the Pope is saying.

LV

What the heck the Pope is saying in so many words is that U.S.A. is wrong to keep the embargo on Fidel simply because "there are different ways of thinking and different beliefs."

Like we don't have the right to hate our enemies.

John Paul II was saying a lot of the same.

What are these two seeing?

In other words: "Mucho ruido y pocas nueces." Is the Pope channeling the late Archbishop Perez-Serantes? The world wonders.

Alberto

Channeling who?

Thanks Julian and Alberto for the clarification!

I don't expect the Pope to say anything different about the embargo, however I would expect them to address the abuses, repression, censorship and enslavement. We need some condemming, not condescending.

Mucho ruido pocas nueces? Been a while since I heard that.

LV

You are right. This Pope needs to get tough and condemn Castro and all of his minnions.

I get so sick of how people in this country will buy up all of those Communist-financing Buena Vista Social Club CDs by Ruben Gonzalez and Ibrahim Ferrer and tell me how great Cuban music is.

That's not Cuban.

Santeria is not Cuban.

The Pope needs to recognize that Fidel Castro has been hell bent on turning Cuba into another Haiti. He oppresses Catholics but embraces Santeros. He has sent many Cubans over to fight in Africa. We see so much of this that Americans don't want to believe that there is such a thing as white Cubans.

Before Fidel Castro, Cuba was just about all white.

Julian, don't be offended, but you just reminded me of Abuela with that comment. She used to say the same thing!

Julian - Perez-Serantes was the Archbishop of Santiago when kaSStro launched his little bandit-raid against Moncada headquarters. kaSStro basically hid behind the good Archbishop's vestments after he fled the scene of the crime. Perez-Serantes saved kaSStro's life and of course, we know how the grateful feed-el repaid the Catholic church for the favor...

Maybe the Pope doesn't know anything about this.

As a Catholic, I've always been struck by the beauty of its rituals, fealty to Christ, and moral example. But Church administration, esp. in Cuba, has been alarmingly silent in condemning fidel and his regime. JP2 had huevos the size of TX. His exhortations to Cubans to have no fear seems to have been lost on the Church in Cuba. Many times they seem to be willing accomplices. The Church, well JP2, stood athwart history and much of the world and stared down the Iron Curtain. In Poland, the Church stood hand in hand with those seeking freedom. Why the reticence and half-hearted statements from Benedict now? Why can't they stare down evil? Why state moral equivilance between the embargo and kagastro? Why doesn't Ortega march with the Ladies in White? Has he ever spoken out publicly against los actos de repudio? The Church in Cuba and in Rome needs JP2's huevos and call out evil for what it is.

"God walks with unbelievers"? His theology is even goofy. Looks like alot of people's dreams of freedom by way of Rome hit reality today. Cuba's freedom must come from Cuba. BTW I hope that the translation was in error as it made no sense at all.

BTW. Has anybody ever wondered WHY Cuba and the Catholic Church get along so well? Isn't it odd that the Catholic Church in Cuba basically has more freedoms than any other denomination in Cuba.
Just curious.

Does anyone hear an echo?? Did John
Paul not say the same thing?? The world must open to Cuba and Cuba to the world...In all these years the Vatican could not have come up with something better to say?? Do they not ask them selves why nothing has changed in Cuba since the Pope was there?? I was born and raised a Catholic but i never trusted the men in dresses.

John Paul did say the same things and he said it frequently. The only reason we did not hear about it in Miami was because the local MSM was not going to run it and the Archdioese did not want to cause scandal for the Vatican (because they still want to get their cardinal robes someday and other perks).

Remember Archbishop McCarthy? He served as a special advisor for the whole Vatican-normalize-relations-because-Jesus-would-do-that platform.

John Paul refused to see any connection between what Castro has been doing and what was going on in Krakow and Warsaw. He spoke out against the embargo much much more than he ever did against Castro.

Why is that?

LV, what did you abuela say that I said?

God did not walk with unbelievers. God made sure that Jesus stayed away from the adulterers and fornicators and gamblers and drunkards and whores and taxcollectors and greedy and narrow-minded zealots who did not want to see any other view but their own.

This is crazy.

What gets me is the slap in the face of the Catholic Church to the Cuban people who helped make the churhc what is today.

Think about it: it was the riches that passed through Cuba from the generations and generations of glorious conquistadores who kept the church coffers rich. All of the riches of gold and silver and rum and sugar and tobacco and everything else that came from the New World would have never reached the church if it were not for Cuba.

Not only did we make money for the church but we saved them money too. Making all of those slaves work for free drove up the profit margin that kept the church rich and powerful.

We deserve better than what we are getting.

Man, the church in Cuba was true and free when Machado kept our country great.

Julian

"We see so much of this that Americans don't want to believe that there is such a thing as white Cubans.

Before Fidel Castro, Cuba was just about all white."

She always complained that all the post castro documentaries, only showed "negritos"

I'm a white Cuban Republican like most here. I love Cuba and pray for her freedom. BUT, some things need to be said. 1st: Christ ministered and kept company with all: thieves, whores, nonbelievers -- all sinners. 2nd: Machado was a worthless dictator just like Batista. Remember, there was a revolution by democratic-minded patriots -- many of them young students -- in 1933. Sometimes we forget that our grandparents fought FOR the our, not fidel's perverted revolution because many believed he was a patriot and a democrat. They were swindled by the promises of a democratic (and middle class) revolution that would reinstate the 1940 constitution. While things in 1959 were obviously an Eden compared to Kagastro, our grandparents fought and died for democratic principles and a Cuba that truly belonged to the people's exercise of FREEDOM and DEMOCRACU -- not corrupt, thieving bastards and certainly not filthy thieving communists. One thing that exiles need to keep in mind is that when fidel falls or dies -- every Cuban's dream -- we need to go back with the American Constitution firmly in our pocket so that all Cubans -- negritos and otherwise -- will enjoy the full exercise of freedom as Marti intended -- as free thinking Cubans. The Church was never as strong in Cuba BC as it was in other parts of Latin America. It is now showing why its future in a post-fidel Cuba is not secured nor even one to be trusted to defend FREEDOM in all its messy ways. Damn shame, too, because it does reflect the face of Christ.

I think I have read this very differently from everyone else. The pope said that to be open, there's got to be VERIFICATION - in other words, castro can't fake it and lie like he always does, and the US needs to 'trust but verify.' Much of the other stuff he says is about the ruin of Cuban society on the inside. What do you think is going to happen in Cuba, what with 10% of the entire population KGB snitches? Does Cuba kill off 10% of its population? I think the pope fears a fearsome bloodletting based on the kind of slimey oppression the 10% inflicted on the other 90%. He wants changes in the human heart, in human thinking, so that Cuba does not become a bloodbath. Despite the fact that at least 90% of Cubans stuck on the castro carcel hate him with all their heart, there are still some people, who, through ignorance or malice or greed or not knowing any better, support fidel. It's a creepy shame. Think about little Elian, stuck in a noose of castrodom, his mind being manipulated. It happens. So some Cubans are going to be feeling one way and others are going to be feeling another way - what would you do if you were pope? Seventy percent of the country practices santeria (which the church doesn't recognize, though I am starting to think it maybe should) and 10% are Catholic and the rest are stone atheist, the faith of their fathers beaten out of them by monstrous communist indoctrination. What's a pope to do? Plenty of people in Cuba don't even know he's a moral authority - their only god is the ungodly and elusive dollar bill. Communism has made them vicious, out for themselves, willing to sell themselves, willing to steal anything. If you abuse someone badly enough, deprive them of any spiritual nourishment, tell them the only god is the party and castro (which they can see is a failed god), that's how they are going to act. It's not their fault. But given what castro has done to destroy every spiritual inch of Cuba, it's the way things are. The pope, I think, is trying to Christianize the place, foster some kind of reconciliation, fully aware of the realities as they exist in tinderbox Cuba ahead of castro's death, and he knows their potential for explosion. IMHO.

Louis,
Christ walked with those in order to convert those. God's relationship to sinners has always been to convert or be damned if they chose to reject God. The pope's comments don't reflect that. He speaks of inclusiveness which is not doctrinal.
A,M.,
I think your translation (with all due respect) is reaching a bit. Its like saying I can see something if I squint, shake my head, wear dark glasses, and stand on my head it becomes clear. If the pope has something to say why be cryptic? Obviously many on this blog can't make heads nor tails of it. What makes him think others will?

Pototo: He wants people to listen closely and think. He's a man of great precision and learning. And I know, from every single report I've gotten, from multiple sources, that he knows exactly what Chavez and castro have done. He's a low-lying player but when he strikes, it's a doozy.

His nondirect style is kind of like what Greenspan used to do. He wants castro to listen to him as much as he wants the people to listen to him. If he condemns castro outright, he will make us happy but castro will turn around and trash a church or outlaw Christmas or do something evil. The pope can't let that happen. He's got to try to convert castro. Right now I think he's giving castro a chance but his warning about verification says he's not going to be fooled.

Pope Benedict is not trying to convert Fidel Castro. John Paul II was not either.

"the world must open to Cuba. An opening that implies the verification of how to open heart and will to the things of God; how to mutually open towards our neighbours, believing and confiding one in the other, despite there are different ways of thinking and different beliefs: and finally, how to open in a world context, with the challenges of its possibilities and difficulties at the same time."

He is discreetly criticizing the United States for being the only country willing to keep Cuba from taking over. Cuba is a menace and will take over the hemisphere if allowed to. Thanks God that we are fighting to keep that devil from having his brujo empire come here too.

LV, your abuela is right because todo los gente decente se fueron de alli antes de 1966.

Cuidao, julian, que yo vine en el '68.

Julian: He speaks English - why don't I send him an email and see what he really meant. Who knows? He might write to us.

Julian, I think I am being kind when I say that you are overreaching a bit with your generalizations about who and when we came. In my book ANY person whether it's yesterday, or in 1960 like myself, who wants to come to live in a free country is welcome. I don't think you can dismiss any group. I work with CAs that arrived not ten years ago. Fine bunch of people and professionals to a man. This is the way fidel divides us. Don't contribute to his evil.

'we need to go back with the American Constitution firmly in our pocket so that all Cubans -- negritos and otherwise -- will enjoy the full exercise of freedom as Marti intended -- as free thinking Cubans. '

Louis you are right you are right right!

Marti's dream was to have Cubans be more like the Americans he lived and ate with. Remember he spent most of his life living in this country and he loved it. If he did not he would not have spent almost thirty years living in this country.

Jose Marti never had a bad thing to say about the United States and was proud to call himself American.

The greatest tragedy was that he did not live long enough to see his dream fron childhood come true -- the USA coming to Cuba to free Cuba.

I've never read any of his books but I have heard so many people talking about how much he wanted Cuba to be another star in the American flag of freedom and I know he would be proud of how we Cubans the real Cubans are keeping Miami the best city in the world where we have a great Cuban mayor who is a smart man and I know that Marti would want us to make Cuba just like Miami for whites only like it used to be.

I think that there is something about this Cuba-brujado thing.

I never see any Black Cubans coming over on the balsas - por que?

Because they like it with Fidel!!!

Same thing for the Chinos!!

Oye caballeros! This racist crap has got to stop! Like George said, this is what fidel does to divide us. We're already divided from those on the island. Let's divide us further.

Wait, I never thought about that. Why DON'T we ever see any Black Cubans trying to migrate to this country?

Guys guys guys,

Cubans of every color and stripe take to the seas to leave the island prison. As George mentioned above, let's leave all this racial shit alone.

I dont care whether a Cuban wanting to be free is white, black, mullatto, taino, vizco, sordo, right handed, left handed or otherwise.

lets keep our eyes on the prize, shall we?

Amen, Val!

No, yo nunca a visto ningun Cubanos de color llegando por balsa o nada. Eso no es "racist" - es verdad. Jamas lo ha visto yo. Eso me cai raro cuando pienso en cuantos Cubanos de herencia Africano viven alli. No estoy diciendo que NO HAY NINGUN que salen pero nunca le veo por noticiero ni periodico.

?Y eso?

Por favor, yo se que hay gente que son "smart" aqui en este blog. Me gustaria si alguien me puede dar algun "insight" sin ningun cosa politico ni negativo. Quiero saber.

Otra cosa, tampoco no veo muchas Afro-Cubanos en Miami. Conozco gente como Henry Crespo en Miami pero hasta el dice que no hay mucho. Despues de casi 50 anos y con todos los Cubanos que ha salido de alli

No estoy hablando de peloteros ni cantantes pero gente regulares. Porque no se ven Afro-Cubanos por la Pequena Habana ni Westchester ni "The Roads"?

Me acuerdo que - hace como 4 anos ya - el periodico de los negros Americanos the Miami Times estaban hablando de la matanza de no se cuanto 1,000s de Afro-Cubanos en 1912 pero nadie en la communidad Cubano estaba hablando de eso.

Como dije yo, todo eso me parece raro.

The reason you dont have any afro cubans in Miami is because our first wave was the mmost racist bunch of Havana Yacht Club Cubans to reach Miami..How many Elite black Cubans are in any anti castro organization...Lets see now..None. Afro cubans in Cuba know that when they get here you guys change their name to the N word,or how you guys like to call them, negritos..White Cubans have always been racist and continue to be...