It’s all about being a good pastor, don’t you know
From an AP dispatch:
Pope plans to duck dissidents in Cuba, spawning criticism
“There’s a very great nervousness in the Cuban church about being seen to be in any way abetting the political opposition in Havana,” Ivereigh said. “They have gone out of their way — some say they may have gone too far in being supportive — but I think they’re playing the long game and I think they know this is a process of evolution rather than regime change.”
The “long game”. Certainly comforting to the vast majority of the Cuban people. After all, the Castros have only been in power, what, a half century or so? Reminder to His Holiness: In the “long game” everybody’s dead. Viva Il Papa!
There is much that could be said about this report and especially the appalling “pastoral” responses to dissidents who had the real courage to comment for the story. Briefly:
Reading of Cardinal Jaime Ortega:
the archbishop of Havana who has overseen the church’s relationship with the Cuban state since 1981. Ortega has been fiercely criticized by dissidents in Cuba and anti-Castro forces in Miami for not confronting the government as the church has done in other places around the world.
We wonder if perhaps under the good Cardinal the church there isn’t incorporated as the Cuban Patriotic Catholic Association, a la Red China ?
a dissident tried to deliver a list of political prisoners to Ortega during a July 4 party at the residence of the top U.S. diplomat in Havana. The cardinal refused to accept it, telling reporters it wasn’t the appropriate forum. The dissident said Ortega threatened to call security and have him thrown out.
Of course we do not anticipate any reticence on the part of the Pope as to who he meets with here (his stay here is shorter in length than has stay in Cuba by the way). Dissidents are even built into his stay here, with the help of President Obama of course. Insulting his hosts, the American people, and its free market system, which have minimized real poverty while being the most generous charitable giving machine the world has ever seen will not be a problem for him either. The devils dung will be well castigated.
DLH with R Mall
