Yeah, unflattering. Everyone looks marvelous, yes, and that — in and of itself– is the problem.
Smiling and laughing, shaking hands with a bloody tyrant, kissing his derriere, plotting how the Catholic Church can best be used to keep 11 million Cubans enslaved.
This is beyond unflattering… it’s horrifyingly ugly and nauseating.
Well, at least this is “socializing” in a non-sanctified space. Giving a mass, obviously in church, for the recovery and continued operation of Nosferatu was rather worse, not to say gross sacrilege. Besides, Pope Benedict himself was all smiles and cordiality with both Nosferatu and Castro II. In other words, this is perfectly consistent with what the Vatican deems appropriate, or at least convenient.
Keep in mind that Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro in 1962, which makes all of the above even MORE inappropriate, to say the least. To my knowledge, the excommunication still stands, and if it was rescinded, the RCC needs to make that public and EXPLAIN. I’m not, however, holding my breath.
This is PRECISELY the sort of public image John Paul II tried very hard to avoid when he visited Chile during Pinochet’s rule. There was a reason for that, and the same reason should apply even more in Castrolandia, but obviously Rome now has no problem with this sort of scandalous spectacle. There’s no doubt a reason for that, too, but it’s hardly likely to be an uplifting one, especially for Cuban Catholics.
I suspect Fidel’s excommunication was discreetly rescinded, possibly by JPII. The RCC does NOT have to make that public. The following is lifted from the Wikipedia entry on excommunication:
“In the Catholic Church, excommunication is normally resolved by a declaration of repentance, profession of the Creed (if the offense involved heresy), or renewal of obedience (if that was a relevant part of the offending act) by the excommunicated person and the lifting of the censure (absolution) by a priest or bishop empowered to do this. The absolution can be in the internal (private) forum only, or also in the external (public) forum, depending on whether scandal would be given if a person were privately absolved and yet publicly considered unrepentant.”
As always, Asombra, you hit the nail on the head.
But it remains highly unlikely that the excommunication has been lifted. The operative sentence from the quote above is: “depending on whether scandal would be given if a person were privately absolved and yet publicly considered unrepentant.”
Even the slimiest of cardinals — someone like the recently deposed Bertone– can recognize that Nosferatu and his Vampire brother are still considered unrepentant by far too many people.
Illogically, having meetings with such criminals or offering masses for their health is somehow not considered a scandal.
It makes no sense, logically, but there is a peculiar logic at work nonetheless: let’s not make waves, let’s see how much we can get from these bad men.
Carlos, it seems one of us is misreading that quoted statement. As I read it, if public knowledge of a rescinded excommunication would cause scandal, then there’s the option to rescind it in private only, meaning secretly, to avoid scandal. That’s what I suspect happened, perhaps in exchange for Cuba changing its official status from an atheist state to a merely secular one, which took place in 1992. It’s hard to see how John Paul II could have been so publicly cordial to Fidel during his 1998 visit to Cuba if the excommunication was still in force, especially considering how differently he’d handled interaction with Pinochet during his 1987 visit to Chile (though that entire visit was strikingly different from his Cuba visit, and the difference hardly does the soon-to-be canonized John Paul any credit). It’s also questionable that Fidel would have allowed the visit if he were still on the Vatican’s shit list.
Yes, both JPII and Fidel could have feigned civility and cordiality as a matter of expediency or convenience, hoping for some gain that would compensate having to smile sweetly and pretend. This would be no problem for a lifelong pretender like Fidel, but it one would think it should have been a problem for the Vicar of Christ.
Raul – Sientance cómodos caballeros que aquí somos todos farsantes disfrazados de lo que no somos. Fijense, como ustedes sabrán yo soy ateo y no creo ni en las brujerías esas en las que anda Fidel, aunque parece que les sirven, pero siempre me e identificado con la iglesia católica dado su alto numero de farsantes que usan a los pobres, maricones de closet, y degenerados.
Padre – No todos somos así.
Raul – Si no, pero ahora se jodieron, ya a ustedes nadie les cree ni mierda. Mírense ustedes mismos aquí deslumbrados ante mi presencia como un buen par de maricones y frívolos. Parecen dos niñitas saludando a Justin Beiber. Les puede molestar poco que soy un ladrón, mentiroso, secuestrador, y asesino mientras les de plataforma y cuatro migajas. Les cuento, cuando yo era chiquito un cura me trato de coger el pito…