From our Bureau of Oafish Fake Heads of State with some assistance from our Bureau of Stunned Princes of the Church
Trucutú Díaz-Canel’s visit to Father Felix Varela’s church in Manhattan took place a week ago, but the waves of ill-feeling generated by his rude behavior are still reverberating.
As it turned out, Trucutú arrived early, without warning, spent only 10 minutes at the church, itching to leave, and exited the premises before Cardinal Dolan of New York had a chance to get there.
So, Cardinal Dolan, who had granted Trucutú’s request for this hypocritical event, was rudely snubbed. Bishop Octavio Cisneros — a Cuban exile — had to step in and fulfill the role that should have been played by Cardinal Dolan.
So it goes. This is what can happen when atheistic communist dictatorships make use of religion to serve their own purposes. Tellingly, Trucutú and his entourage intentionally staged this event to suit their needs, not caring about the sacred nature of the event they had requested, or its diplomatic significance. They got their photos taken at Father Varela’s church. That’s all they wanted. Click, click, we’re done ….Vamonos . . . let’s get out of here . . .
Abridged from The National Catholic Register
Sometimes in Church-state relations, things don’t go as planned.
This was more than evident at the Church of the Transfiguration in New York City’s Chinatown on Sept. 23. President Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba — in town to attend the U.N. Sustainable Goals Summit and to give brief remarks to the General Assembly — had asked the Archdiocese of New York three weeks earlier if he could lay a wreath at the statue of Venerable Félix Varela, a Cuban priest and patriot on route to canonization. The event was by invitation only and shrouded in secrecy.
The Sept. 23 event at the Catholic church was to be held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was supposed to attend.
Bishop Octavio Cisneros, retired auxiliary bishop from Brooklyn, was there because of his work promoting the cause of beatification and canonization of Venerable Félix. He arrived at 4:10 p.m. President Díaz-Canel arrived ahead of schedule at 4:20 p.m.
“The appropriate person to have welcomed him was Cardinal Dolan,” who was not yet due to arrive, “but it was just me,” Bishop Cisneros told the Register.
Apparently, President Díaz-Canel walked right into the church to place his wreath of flowers at the statue of Father Varela. Bishop Cisneros followed and explained the importance that Father Varela had — as a priest — for the Catholic Church in New York.
“I told him a few words about this church, how Father Varela had founded the parish. I told the president about the significance of this church and the significance of Father Varela in New York as someone who worked tirelessly to help the Irish and Italians,” he said. “I explained that when the poor were sick, Father Varela would visit people in the hospital, even during a cholera epidemic.”
They were not together more than 10 minutes when, suddenly, Díaz-Canel thanked Bishop Cisneros and told him that the U.S. Secret Service men had given him instructions to depart.
Then the Secret Service whisked Díaz-Canel out of the building.
Cardinal Dolan was only a few blocks away in his car when he was called and told that the president of Cuba had just left. Cardinal Dolan’s driver turned the car around immediately, according to Christopher Ljungquist, adviser on Latin America at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace.
Everybody in the Transfiguration parish-school building was shocked . . . The members of the Cuban delegation and even the priests of Transfiguration parish looked at each other with amazement.
Whole story HERE
The thing was supposed to start at 5, but it was never meant to be more than a drive-by photo-op. The Castronoids had no interest in Dolan once he served his purpose, which was to approve and set up the event. They sure didn’t care to hear any platitudes he had in mind–it was all they could do to listen to Cisneros for a few minutes, which no doubt bored them silly. They were NOT there to be enlightened.
They were there to use Varela and try to co-opt him as a “precursor” before he gets beatified and potentially canonized. It’s the same thing, in principle, they did with José Martí from the beginning. They know how to play this game and how to find collaborators. They also used Varela’s church, where he did the work on which his canonization attempt is based, a church he himself founded and which they profaned.
This event was a classic montaje, staged expressly to accommodate the wishes and designs of the Castronoids–who dishonor Varela every second Cuba remains enslaved by them. Alas, this is just one manifestation of a much broader problem, and I don’t see that changing under Bergoglio or anyone like him. The focus is clearly not on Cubans themselves but on getting along (and necessarily playing along) with Castro, Inc., which is exquisitely sensitive to any opportunity to take advantage and always does.
And so, the “diplomatic” game goes on. Lord have mercy.
Not that it really matters, but neither of Miami’s Herald papers touched this story. Of course, the Herald papers stopped being the go-to source for Cuba news long ago, even if they once were. Actually, I expect they’re relieved. I mean, who wants to bother with Chihuahua news? Let the nasty yapping creatures get their own damn news. The only surprise is that any Cubans still bother with the Herald.
Dolan apparently made sure to invite a couple of Vatican functionaries, presumably to show off his would-be diplomatic skills to people who would report back to the pope (who would no doubt approve). But again, we’re talking about a kind of game, and Father Varela was not about games. That’s why his advocacy for Cuba’s independence and for the abolition of slavery in Cuba got him condemned to death, which forced him to go into exile. The NCR article is wrong about the last years of his life: he never returned to Cuba, because he could not, and he died in St. Augustine, FL, where he had retired for health reasons.
The world, whether it be heads-of-states, entrepreneurs, the church or the mainstream media [MSM], constantly gives the regime chances. For instance, if we read the MSM or listen to the church, Cuba is always changing, on the verge of changing, etc… all that we need is to be more inclusive, understanding, engaging, etc…, show them that we’re not their enemies. This has been going on for decades. And it doesn’t matter how many times the regime humiliates these people, remember when Obama visited Cuba and he wasn’t even met at the airport by raul, or how the regime leaked the picture of the infamous castro groupie, Magda Montiel kissing him? They are always willing to give the tyranny one more chance. Dolan is just the latest case of one of these people being shafted. Inexplicably, like a puta with her chulo, they are always willing to come back for more abuse.
Yes, the theory seems to be that if you’re nice enough to a poisonous snake, it will become less ;poisonous, or at least fatally bite fewer people, but I doubt the parties involved are really that stupid. I think they simply prefer playing games. and they may even believe they can outsmart and outmaneuver the devil, but many of them are basically fine with being complicit with evil.
If anyone knows if anything came of Frank Calzón’s letter to Archbishop Wenski about this event, let us know. However, I doubt that accomplished anything, though presumably there was some sort of reply.
There is, by the way, a Castronoid state decoration called the Order of Félix Varela (just as there is one that uses the name of José Martí), given to those whom the regime deems to have contributed to Cuban and worldwide culture. What that has to do with Varela is obviously extremely questionable.
There is a full-length statue of Varela outside the church, where the wreath-laying ceremony was supposedly meant to take place, but it had to be done indoors because of rain. I cannot confirm that, but I expect the Castronoids would have preferred the outdoors option, which would probably have been quicker and in a less overtly religious setting. It’s not as if they’re used to being in a consecrated space.
The outdoor statue can be seen at https://tinyurl.com/abtv2rhc