Cuban Cauldron Awaits Pope

[JimG]

An article from the National Catholic Register about Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Cuba. It sounds as though a papal visit to the repressive Castro regime will apparently be like walking a tightrope.
“". . . the Pope’s upcoming visit to Cuba evokes the same perils faced by Benedict XVI in 2012. According to a published report, Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, predicts repression will increase as a result of Pope Francis’ trip. (The Ladies in White continue to march on behalf of new prisoners and to protest a capricious justice system that forbids dissent.) She and other dissidents think Pope Francis’ visit could endanger them, based on three factors: repression they experienced during Pope Benedict’s visit; increased harassment at St. Rita’s over the last few months (about 100 protesters were arrested on July 5, for example, and one person’s nose was fractured); and Cardinal Ortega’s recent statements regarding political prisoners."

Read more: ncregister.com/site/article/cuban-cauldron-awaits-pope/#ixzz3lluOCVOz

 

[JimG]

And what happens if Raul Castro decides to approach for communion at a papal Mass?

 

[Catholic_farmer]

If either Raul or Fidel confess to the Holy Father in private, we will see some real changes in Cuba. I think it would be wonderful if they actually pledged to amend their ways to the point of receiving absolution and the Eucharist. Will it happen? Not likely. But it would be one of the fastest ways to change Cuba into a nation that respects human dignity.

 

[JimG]

If either Raul or Fidel confess to the Holy Father in private, we will see some real changes in Cuba. I think it would be wonderful if they actually pledged to amend their ways to the point of receiving absolution and the Eucharist. Will it happen? Not likely. But it would be one of the fastest ways to change Cuba into a nation that respects human dignity.

That would be not only amazing but nearly miraculous. A Castro reconciliation would have to uncover a lot of misdeeds.

“The Castros have utterly ruined this onetime bastion of Roman Catholicism with a cruel, morally unconscionable Marxist-Leninist atheism. A dozen Hurricane Katrinas could not have generated the mass wreckage of lives and souls unleashed by these two disastrous sons of a rosary-reciting mother and Jesuit education.” At least, that’s one man’s opinion.

 

[Catholic_farmer]

Miraculous does seem the better word to describe it. We could use a miracle these days.

The release of some prisoners (although not political) was an interesting move. I wonder if that was a condition of the Pope’s visit? In the end, Pope Francis said he is coming to North America as a pastor and a prophet. Will the leaders of Cuba listen to a pastor? Will the prophet side make them too uncomfortable? Do they truly understand how far they would have to come to follow Jesus? I suppose it’s worth the Pope’s visit to Cuba if conditions improve in Cuba, however small those changes might be. I can imagine those released prisoners have reasons to rejoice.