From our Antics of Papa Che Bureau with special assistance from our Vatican Correspondent Torcuato Vaderetro
To mark the 25th anniversary of Saint John Paul II’s visit to Cuba, his successor Papa Che has sent a long and platitudinous message to the Cuban people in which he makes no mention of the oppression under which they live or the human rights abuses they have endured for over six decades.
Instead, after quoting one of Saint John Paul’s addresses from 1998, he goes on to explicitly praise Cubans for their socialist self-sacrifice while never using the word “socialism.”
If you expected him to say anything other than that, then you really don’t know who Papa Che really is, what he admires, and what he represents.
Abridged and loosely translated from Marti Noticias
During this time, I would like you to make present in your hearts the gestures and words that my predecessor addressed to you during his visit, so that they resonate strongly in the present, and give a new impetus to continue building with hope and determination the future of that nation. One of his exhortations at that moment was: «i Face with strength and temperance, with justice and prudence the great challenges of the present moment; Return to your Cuban and Christian roots, and do everything in your power to build a more dignified and free future! Do not forget that responsibility is part of freedom. Moreover, the person is defined mainly by his responsibility towards others and before history »(Message to Cuban youth, January 23, 1998).
I also encourage you to return to your Cuban and Christian roots, that is, to your own identity, which has generated and continues to generate the life of that country. Those roots have been strengthened, allowing us to see them grow and flourish in the testimony of so many of you who work and sacrifice every day for others, not only for your family, but also for your neighbors and friends, for all people, and especially for those most in need. Thank you for that example of collaboration and mutual help that unites you and that reveals the spirit that characterizes you: open, welcoming and supportive. Continue walking together with hope, knowing that always, and particularly in the midst of adversity and suffering, Jesus and his Most Holy Mother accompany you, help you carry the cross and console you with the joy of the resurrection.
To encounter more platitudes, read the whole text HERE
If the matter had to be addressed, which is debatable, he should have left it to Cuba’s cardinal. It’s hard to tell how much of this is meaningless pro forma stuff and how much is potentially worse. Either way, he’s not truly in touch with Cuba’s miserable reality, so it would be best for him to say as little as possible.
What “has generated and continues to generate the life of [Cuba],” oppressive and dysfunctional though it is, is NOT Cuba’s true identity but a perverse alien ideology which José Martí presciently warned about even before it took root in Russia. Surely Bergoglio cannot be so clueless, meaning que no es bobo, pero se hace.