From our Papa Che Bureau with some assistance from our Bureau of Highly Selective Indignation by Vicars of Christ
Only a few days after he praised the totalitarian dictatorship of Cuba as a “symbol” with a “great history” and boasted about his “human relationship” with murderous dictator Raul Castro, Papa Che has expressed deep sorrow for the human rights abuses endured by Canada’s indigenous people.
His apology — in and of itself — is solidly anchored in the ethical teachings of the Catholic Church. Horrible things occurred in some Canadian Catholic schools for indigenous children. Yes, they deserve an apology. This “mea maxima culpa” pilgrimage of Papa Che will undoubtedly strike the right cord among many of Canada’s native peoples. Bravo!
But . . . but. . . but. . .but. . . there is no denying that this apology rings hollow and smacks of hypocrisy. The cruelty of the Castro brothers has far surpassed that of the abusive clergy of the Canadian Catholic Church. Yet, to this day, in his nine years as Vicar of Christ, Papa Che has yet to condemn Cuba’s rulers for the horrors they have inflicted on the Cuban people. Instead, he has showered them with effusive affection, and, worse yet, he has bragged about that affection and condescendingly dismissed all those who might find it offensive as cantankerous oafs.
Read these snippets from Papa Che’s apology (below). Meditate on how much of what he says can also apply to post-1958 Cuba. Simply substitute “Cuban people” for “indigenous peoples” and “Communists” for “Christians” and “totalitarian mentality” for “colonizing mentality.”
Yet, yet, yet.. . .(one can’t help but stutter in the face of such blatant hypocrisy) . . . yet, yet, yet . . The only comments Papa Che has ever made about Cuba there has never been even a hint of outrage or even a slight condemnation of all of the crimes committed by Castro, Inc. and its many minions.
His selective outrage reveals the magnitude of his willful blindness and his love for leftist dictatorships. And the worst part of it all is that while he ignores the suffering of the Cuban people, he claims to love them deeply. Spend some time meditating on the last paragraph below. Would Papa Che ever consider genuine freedom to be the “deepest expectations of Cuban hearts”? Not likely.
Meditate on the photo above. Then meditate on the photo below. Would Papa Che ever kiss the hand of a Cuban tortured by the Castro regime? Not likely.
From CTV News: (Full text HERE)
“With shame and unambiguously, I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples” . . .
“I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry . . .
“Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigenous peoples. I am sorry,” he said. “In the face of this deplorable evil, the Church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of her children”. . .
Again, I think back on the stories you told: how the policies of assimilation ended up systematically marginalizing the Indigenous peoples; how also through the system of residential schools your languages and cultures were denigrated and suppressed; how children suffered physical, verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse; how they were taken away from their homes at a young age, and how that indelibly affected relationships between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren.. . .
Please know that all of you are in my thoughts and in my prayer. Know that I am aware of the sufferings and traumas, the difficulties and challenges, experienced by the indigenous peoples in every region of this country. The words that I speak throughout this penitential journey are meant for every native community and person. I embrace all of you with affection.
Our own efforts are not enough to achieve healing and reconciliation: we need God’s grace. We need the quiet and powerful wisdom of the Spirit, the tender love of the Comforter. May He bring to fulfilment the deepest expectations of our hearts. May he guide our steps and enable us to advance together on our journey
Brilliant analysis Carlos. I hope you can get this published where it can reach a wider audience.
Oh, he’s very selective, predictably so. He’s also very fashionably and “correctly” oriented. Well, at least he’s not ambiguous or inconsistent–the pattern is clear, and his conduct follows it.
I think he’s a glorified virtue-signaling “progressive,” and I’m not buying his act, even if he believes in it.
And Carlos, when he said he loves the Cuban people, he was also being selective. He does not love “those people,” who admittedly don’t love him either. He loves his concept of Cubans, as noble revolutionaries.
Where are the animal rights activists to protest the Pope for wearing the feathered headdress? Those feathers were taken from beautiful innocent birds.
And, of course, where is The Pope’s empathy and apology for the way people all over the world are treated by Communist masters?
Has The Pope ever mentioned Falun Gong and the way the Chinese Communists treat them? I am guessing not.
Selective indignation and revisionist history – The religion of this Pope. I can’t believe G-d is pleased.
What actually happened at the schools in question is neither clear nor settled, and it needs to be objectively and dispassionately investigated thoroughly, which may not be done. The following comment I read online, from someone who is most likely Canadian and close to the story, is worth considering carefully:
This all started when someone “discovered” a bunch of so-called “unmarked graves” on property that had formerly been part of a residential school. Years ago, most government funded institutions with long-term residents (prisons, orphanages, asylums) were run like self-contained cities, with their own chapels, hospitals, and graveyards. These private cemeteries had always been considered a basic part of the institution itself, and they had always been out in the open for anyone to see – including any crusading journalist who might want to visit the school grounds and take a look. Following all the hoopla about the graves, we haven’t heard the slightest evidence of any criminal or even wrongful behavior that put even one child into that cemetery. In fact, we’re still not sure if these graves were originally “unmarked” – or even “graves” at all. Assuming they are graves, the children likely died from disease or other natural causes and the cemetery almost certainly grew in size over a gradual period of time, just like any other cemetery in the country.
Despite this, it’s a tenet of liberal faith that these “unmarked graves” are evidence of some vaguely defined government persecution of an Indigenous minority, and must therefore be viewed in the same context as the “unmarked graves” from a Nazi atrocity or a Stalinist purge. The unwavering liberal line on the subject is that all Canadians must now grovel in apology and throw money at the aggrieved party, and anyone who tries to inject some truth and historical context into the matter is immediately marginalized as a right-wing bigot. The schools were an attempt (yes, far from perfect) to give Indigenous children a better life than they could ever expect if left alone. Most of these children were the product of illiterate, poverty-stricken households. Even by the social standards 100 years ago, the level of privation and child neglect in these households was appalling. The children had no medical care, no dental care, and no schooling. Many lived in tenement-type housing that lacked even basic sanitation. Without some intervention, these children – and their children – had zero hope for a productive adult life or even a normal life expectancy. Breaking the cycle of alcoholism and poverty and systemic illiteracy was the rationale for the residential schools, not some bigoted master plan by government to “tear children away from their parents” as some accounts falsely and irresponsibly report.
We can and should criticize these institutions for not maintaining better contact with the parents of these children. We can and should take them to task for a methodology straight out of a Dickens novel. But that doesn’t stop high-profile people like the Pope or Canadian Prime Minister from giving everyone the impression that some terrible act of mass killing or criminal neglect had occurred long ago where the victims were all dumped into “unmarked graves” in an attempt to cover up the crime. This is all done without a single word of explanation and no historical context. All we see is fake solemnity and a shameless pandering to group-think.