So, the Holy See, indeed Pope Francis himself, gets involved with the freeing of an American citizen held in Cuba for several years. The citizen, Alan Gross, is released. He returns to these USA. He goes to his attorney’s office. They prepare remarks. Photos are taken and issued by, inter alii, WaPo.
Note the framed photo of the Argentinian-born, Leftist-darling, murdering-thug Che Guevara on the wall.
Another picture, just above the photo of Argentinian-born, Leftist-darling, murdering-thug Guevara, which can be seen in a photo from a different angle in the same office during the same occasion.
Che and brutal dictator, Church-persecutor Fidel playing golf. Isn’t that sweet?
Who has pictures of men like those in such a prominent place in one’s office?
According to American Thinker, newly-freed Gross thanked some people for involvement in his release:
Among them were Jill Zuckman of leftist PR firm SKDKnickerbocker, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). SKDKnickerbocker also employs former resident Maoist in the Obama White House Anita Dunn and Democrat operative Hilary Rosen.
In his remarks, Gross also said:
I also feel compelled to share with you my utmost respect for and fondness of the people of Cuba. In no way are they responsible for the ordeal to which my family and I have been subjected. To me cubanos, or at least most of them, are incredibly kind, generous and talented. It pains me to see them treated so unjustly as a consequence of two governments’ mutually belligerent policies. Five and a half decades of history show us such belligerence inhibits better judgment. Two wrongs never make a right. I truly hope that we can now get beyond these mutually belligerent policies and I was very happy to hear what the president had to say today. It was particularly cool to be sitting next to the secretary of state as he was hearing about his job description for the next couple of months. In all seriousness, this is a game-changer, which I fully support.
So, instead of saying, “I’m so happy to be back in the freest country in the world!”, he called these USA “belligerent”… three times.
Part of the deal?
Certain people worked really hard to get Alan Gross out into the open and in front of microphones and cameras.
I’ll allow comments, but the moderation queue is ON.
Yes, yes, yes…. very nice pictures….
BUT DID YOU NOTICE THE MODEL XII DE-CARBONIZING PHOTON PLASMA BLASTER RAY GUN ON THE DESK BESIDE THEM!!!
Theres something else interplanetary going on here….
[Whoa! You’re right! I had dismissed it as merely an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, and moved on! This is portentous.]
There is a lot of criticism of the Pope on this on talk radio. Michael Savage asked on his show yesterday what did the Vatican get out of this? Money? Savage went on to refer to Obama and the Pope as Marxist leaning and the photos in the pictures above are an interesting item to note.
Savage’s theory is that international elements have placed folks in key positions like the Presidency and the Papacy who are one-world socialists meant to further an agenda on the world scale. Take it for what it is – Savage does have a reputation but is not an anti-Catholic and often praised the church during the previous pontificates.
It was an interesting show and can be found on podcast on the net.
May now Pope Francis will get involved with the freeing of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.
Rob22, not too long ago I would have considered that opinion by Michael Savage far fetched. I don’t any longer.
I’m trying not to set off your alarm Fr. Z., but what the Pope does and says concerns me greatly, including his involvement in this mess. Politely speaking, I wish that he would concern himself not with political matters but with authentic church matters. Then again, that hasn’t worked out too well either. I wish he would take up golf.
I am certainly no fan of Obama…..However, I think this is a problem that needed a resolution. In this way, I see the problem of Cuba as similar to the problem with illegal immigration and healthcare. I think Obama was wrong on all of these accounts and his solutions are generally awful – like Marx. However, like Marx, Obama is correct at identifying real problems that people have refused to address in suitable ways. All of these issues should serve to wake up political conservatives, (and orthodox Christians regarding homosexuals or divorced couples) that we cannot be ostriches who pretend that problems don’t exist. Who are too comfy with our logic, that we do not wonder about the reality outside of our study/chapel. We can’t be Cartesians! Again, I am no fan of these moves by Obama or by those under Pope Francis in the last synod – but unless we live out our faith, unless we live out our intelligence with a joyful engagement with the world, even engaging the evil little dictators wherever we find them, the world will move on getting worse without us.
Dennis Prager on his show today (discussing the scandal at Marquette – it is apparently hate speech there to be against homosexual marriage) said that the most important religious movement in the past century is leftism, and it’s acolytes are to be found everywhere and in all sorts of positions of authority. This appears to be another such example.
And if the lefties really have a fully functional MODEL XII DE-CARBONIZING PHOTON PLASMA BLASTER RAY GUN it could be a real struggle wresting control of these institutions back.
Fr. Z., priest to priest. Is it a sin to pray for the world to end? It is getting just too crazy and the longer the world is around the more souls are being lost to the devil. How often can I go to confession? (rhetorical) [Christians have always prayed “Come, Lord Jesus!” Rev 22:20: Dicit qui testimonium perhibet istorum. Etiam venio cito: amen. Veni, Domine Jesu. Of course the next part begins. Cf. 2 Peter 3]
I don’t think the Pope got anything out of this, except perhaps a step closer to the Nobel Peace Prize (which he is said to want). I think, politically, he’s a silly man who doesn’t understand the stakes – after all, he’s Argentinian, a country located in Latin America which is considered by many Latin Americans as not being really Latin American except in geography, where they have an accent and a lexicon that are totally non-standard because of the foreign intrusions, and where the ruling elite boast about having ” no Spanish blood,” since they’re mostly Italians, like the Pope, or Germans.
I don’t think the Pope is evil, and I think some of his reflections on his personal piety are very good. But I think he’s vain and easily manipulated, he loves publicity, and whether because of age or because of a native tendency, he never thinks about things before he says them. I’m sure Obama has stoked his ego, since the Pope has been in meetings with Obama reps for the last couple of weeks, and he’s emerging with all the Obama positions, ranging from recognizing Cuba to closing Guantanamo to stopping fracking.
I would say I wish that he’d go back to his job, being the successor to Peter, but he’s had such a destabilizing and negative effect on the Church in his brief tenure that he’s not much of a successor and maybe it’s better if he just messes around in world politics for a bit. My only fear – and I hope I don’t sound like a tinfoil hat wearing loony – is that the Pope is going to get involved with the URI or another similar “world religions” organization that has supposedly asked him to head it.
Pope Francis is not the first Pope to oppose the United States’ embargo of Cuba. Pope St. John Paul did as did his successor Pope Benedict XVI. I am happy to hear that His Holiness worked to re-establish diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States.
My family on my dad’s side is of Cuban descent and my grandparents left the island just before the Revolution. This millennial is not one of the dopes of my generation, unlike my parents’ and grandparents’ generations, that the media is fond of saying believes Castro is not so bad and we need to embrace Cuba. This is an outrage against the people of Cuba. I guess I should not be surprised that the Dear Leader (Obama, not Castro) would sell-out a suffering nation for a cheap political point. Opening the doors to Cuba is not going enrich the Cubans, but rather the Castros. If anything, it may become another China–a bustling “capitalist” economy with an oppressive, authoritarian regime. And to add insult to injury, all of this comes with the papal stamp of approval. Que escandalo!
P.S. I can’t comprehend the incessant adulation of Che in trendy circles. He was a butcher. Plain and simple. Fr. Z hit the nail on the head.
… and from what I’ve read, I’ll not be able to get good Cuban cigars retail stateside, and I’ll have to get them at Fincato in Rome.
What’s next? Will we be seeing Al Sharpton at the Vatican? Will someone please tell me what is going on? Come to think of it, never mind. Pray the Psalms. Go to confession. Be ready.
The AP is reporting that American Jews and Pope Benedict XVI also had a big role in this. This is really geopolitics filled with a lot of complexity, and the idea that it is part of some Obama-Francis Marxist powerplay is atrociously incorrect on so many levels.
Ahem. Two citizens, one who won’t be named. Thanks, Pope Frank!
Looks to me like Alan Gross’s release was the result of hard-pressure lobbying by Jewish groups rather than some sort of international cabal conjured up by Michael Savage’s “lively” imagination. http://forward.com/articles/153492/new-tactic-in-alan-gross-fight/?p=all
These groups were obviously pressuring Pope Benedict for some time and likely turned to Pope Francis after Pope Benedict resigned. Why else would the Pope intervene in the case of this one particular individual and not the myriad of others who are unjustly imprisoned?
I am delighted to see that the Pope’s comments on this breakthrough between the USA and Cuba, (Catholic Herald 18th Dec 2014)
We must now look forward to the Vatican bringing about reconciliation to the present NATO/EU/ Russia confrontation. The Pope might call for encounter, rather than confrontation, here. As Archbishop Mennini has said, commenting on this, the Pope is now playing an important role in world diplomacy, and,
“Russia needs the West, but the West also needs Russia”, particularly in helping resolve the crises in the Middle East, Syria and the nuclear question in Iran, he said.”
Not to mention the nuclear questions in NATO and Russia?
[Not to mention ISIS….]
Did the embargo actually accomplish anything good? I for one, do not have an issue with ending this. We trade with far worse governments than Cuba.
Sorry…. jumped the gun on this so to speak…
It is not an alien ray gun…
Its actually a Cuban Pulsed Light body hair removal device – made in Russia.
[whew]
Traductor, yes the Pope is the Obama of the Catholic church in a way. Taking all these leftist/Marxist positions and being close to Obama on almost all issues. Obama has said he wants to transform America and at times I get the sense the Pope wants to transform the Church.
I fear what olive branch the Pope might send to the gay community when he is in the US next year. Preside over a blessing of a gay “marriage”. I know some in the gay community praying for that and expecting if not that something very significant.
Taking positions on fracking is absurd. Why not take positions on critical church issues. He says so little on the religious persecution being perpetrated on many in ISIS controlled territory.
The test for me, a convert, will be the changes coming out of the synod on the family. They either will or will not be a historic change in church teaching.
I’m not sure where to go on this one. I’m happy the Pope’s intervention may have aided in the release of someone wrongly held by communist thugs, but the rest of it makes me very uncomfortable. I don’t have an issue with the Pope playing a role in international affairs either. After all, John XXIII served as a conduit for back channel talks during the Cuban missile crisis and John Paul II was instrumental in breaking the Soviet Union.
I guess my concern goes back to something the Pope said on his first day on the job. If you’ll remember, he said the Church can’t become a NGO. Well, I agree with that, but I would take it a step farther and say a Pope shouldn’t see himself as Secretary General of the United Nations either. I get the sense the Pope likes to play that role though. On more than one occasion, he’s inserted himself into conflicts where little was ever going to be gained. The Israeli/Palestinian summit in June comes to mind.
I’m also very uneasy about the burgeoning alliance, or at least perceived alliance, between Obama and the Pope. I fear it may send a message that economic socialism is the main message the Catholic Church now offers. And it’s that concern that brings me back to the comments the Pope made on his first day about a NGO. Right now, I think many people could easily surmise the Church is now more oriented towards ensuring social justice than bringing the faith to all people.
Can I just say that people really ought to think twice before levying the old Obama comparison against the Holy Father on a public forum. That’s Peter, after all, and insinuating that he might possibly preside over gay unions or that he is basically Barack by the Tiber is preposterous and, in light of last night’s O antiphon, also imprudent. We have to do this cum Petro and sub Petro, and that should color your comments and opinions much more than what some talk radio guy or your own political sensibilities might otherwise suggest. Please, seriously.
It is an unfortunate day in my 57 years of living that I must now trust my gut when I hear of our leaders “doing good for America”. My gut told me this release was a falsehood and now, as I read your post Fr. , my gut was right again!!
I am a black RC convert and as I watch this nation being parted out to various political and social entities, and as I watch those entities dismantle this country and turn it’s citizens against one another and against every institution that holds a society together…I can’t decided if I want to scream, cry, or just shout “stop the world I want to get off”.
Then I remember that I am a Roman Catholic and that there is a solution that this church of which I am now a member has seen this all before at one time or another in it’s over 2000 year history.
So, I did what has always been done before. I followed the example of so many folks like me in church history. I prayed. And I prayed some more. And I kept praying…for this entire mess of a country that America has become. I ask, each time I pray, that the bishops of the United States would put Our Lady Of America in her basilica as she asked because it is all that will save us..at least that is my opinion.
Ignoring Our Lady has had penalties in the past that we now suffer in the present. How much longer are they going to wait? How much more must we all suffer because they wait?
When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?
Barb Rickman
Shelton CT
Here is the AP story about Pope Benedict initiating the movement towards this Cuba reconciliation a few years ago:
http://news.yahoo.com/pope-praises-diplomacy-us-cuba-accord-113039901.html
I have heard no mention of compensation from the Cuban government for everything that they stole when they came to power. I know people that lost everything they owned and barely escaped alive. Many didn’t.
The cardinal virtue of fortitude has taken a serious hit.
Embargoes will no longer be effective. All a rogue state has to do is nab a hostage or two and we capitulate.
The pope and the president have made a grave error and we will all pay for it.
It’s not like the Holy Father is alone in wanting diplomatic ties resumed between the US and Cuba, the whole international community has been calling for this.
I would disagree with the move if the embargo had achieved anything towards ending the Castro regime but it hasn’t. Worse it has given the Castro’s and thier friends an easy scapegoat to blame all the economic ills of Cuba on and perpetuate thier rule.
The question of if the Pope should be so actively engaged in foreign affairs is another thing, all foreign policy decisions have a moral aspect but it could just get very messy and open this and any Pope to whole lots of criticism and embarrassment.
We had full diplomatic relations with the USSR and the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe (except East Germany, I think). We have full diplomatic relations with Red China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Egypt and other places ruled by men just as evil, just as hateful of Christ and His Church, if not moreso than the Castro brothers.
I have never understood the United States’ steadfast policy in regards to Cuba. I realize the end of the Bautista regime meant that American politicians could no longer go to Havana for their discreet gambling and relations with ladies of negotiable virtue, but they’re surely all dead and retired by now.
Blessed Karl of Austria, pray for us.
First we traded 5 islamofascist terrorists for 1 military deserter. Now, we appear to have traded 3 Cuban communist spies for 1 communist sympathizer. The actions of the Obama regime do not surprise me. This is just the beginning my friends. Obama no longer has to run for office and he is going to be unleashing a flood of diabolical initiatives for the simple fact that he hates this country which foolishly elected him as president.
As for the holy father’s involvement in this… Now is the time for some novenas to Our Lady of Fatima. When Our Lady came to Fatima and warned about Russia spreading her errors, she was referring to communism (aka. official, government mandated atheism). Castro’s Cuba is part of the Russia she warned us about. Our Lady of Fatima also asked Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia to pray very much for the holy father.
God’s time is not the same as our time on earth. Was Our Lady of Fatima telling the world to pray for the then holy father or could it have been then and now? Remember that in the Book of the Apocalypse, the timing of the events merge what happened (Lucifer and his demons cast from Heaven) with what is to come (the end of the world).
The events leading up to the Apocalypse are frightening but they have to happen – that’s God’s will. We are powerless to stop them so all we can do is pray and try to live our lives in a way that pleases Him. Evil is on the rise right now in everywhere we look. Will that period of peace that Our Lady foretold happen or did it happen already? We don’t know. All we can do is pray for God’s Mercy. So let’s pray now and pray hard for Pope Francis and the direction he’s taking us.
I do not know much about this, but I feel in favor of relations with Cuba becoming more normalized and less “cold war” now, and this seems to have been part of bulldozing a path to that. Surely this is not objectionable in the way releasing the terrorists with ongoing murderous intentions from Guantanamo was.
Rob22 said: “Preside over a blessing of a gay ‘marriage’.”
Rob, really? That would never happen. No, he will go to Philly (where I’ve spent a great deal of time–very interesting Catholic roots there, but a Catholic region in turmoil) and meet with abuse victims, etc. But he would never preside over a gay civil ceremony (with the name of “marriage” attached to it)!
A picture is worth a thousand words–in this case- two of them.
It certainly points out who and what these people are who are involved in this.
The Castro brothers will not change their stripes–why should they. They have probably learned from the Communist dictators in China. The money they are making from all of us is being used to build up their military to confront this country and that is the least of it. Communist dictators do not want to be friends. They are more interested in themselves and the Communist Party–not the people.
Eric you made some good points that many either do not care about or are
not aware of. There is a history here.
Obama has his own agenda and will use any opportunity as we have seen.
This, http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2014/12/18/what-part-of-keeping-cuba-isolated-has-not-worked/?singlepage=true
from Andrew McCarthy will ‘splain’ the law and why this is (another) Obama fubar.
Besides, in whose or what interests does Obama act?
I read Gross’ statement a few times and don’t see him criticizing our country, rather “our” government. I’ve stopped making the mistake of confusing the two for the past couple of decades or so. As far as praying for the end of the world end…meh…most of us have children and grandchildren.
Points of doctrine as well as faith and morals can be black and white.
Geopolitics is messy and gray.
The Vatican’s, and by this I mean the Holy Father but also the impressive diplomatic corps, stature as a broker for international peace is something that should not be overlooked here. Imagine, if you will, a Cuba that is open again (certainly we have to expect that, in the short-term, the new revenue stream will support the current regimen, that’s a given). This Cuba, despite the persons in power, will be exposed to more and more free ideas and capital. The Holy See, in a large part responsible for this, will have enormous political capital in influencing the future post-Castro Cuban renaissance.
Is Pope Francis a disappointment in a whole host of arenas? Yes. Do I owe him my filial obedience? Yes. Was this geopolitical maneuver going to, in the long-term, bring economic prosperity and faith to large numbers of Cubans? Yes.
Also, if I may be a bit cynical, this move also resonates in the rest of South America where our faith is fighting against rising Protestantism and Secular Atheism. This victory in diplomacy, brokered by our Church, reaffirms the Church’s position, not just in the spiritual realm but also in the political.
That all said, the decades-long embargo on Cuba was, from a policy position, nonsensical. As has been addressed eloquently in previous comments above, the United States has no “moral high ground” in saying that it refuses to trade with Cuba because they are “bad communists.” We have lucrative deals around the world with far far worse nations. The fall of the Cuban embargo was inevitable. It is important our Church played a role.
I have been trying now for a couple of days to discern what TO think about all of this.
On the one hand, I’m glad to see an American citizen freed from an enslaved nation. On the other, I’m not thrilled that we effectively swapped him for 3 convicted spies from Cuba. I have memories from last summer of soldier Bergdahl coming to mind; this deal seems almost as lame.
In the past 10 years, I’ve read and heard various analyses that persuade me that economic sanctions accomplish very little good, but typically inflict grave harm in the process. Our former UN ambassador. John Bolton, made a good point about how the Castro regime nearly collapsed twice in the last 20 years, but survived because Russia or Venezuala provided help. Now we’re going the same thing, he says. I guess that’s my key problem with economic sanctions: If we can’t depend on all nations to sanction someone, any “rogue” state will still make it. As a result, sanctions won’t help bring about regime change.
Sadly, I’m not even convinced that making the world safe for democracy always helps. Democracy doesn’t typically hurt–at least not directly–but we have a bad habit of assuming that human dignity will be more recognized with a democratic government holding power. That doesn’t seem to be so as much as we’d wish.
I hope we, as a Church, will seize the opportunity to better evangelize and catechize Cubans with this. If we don’t, the lot of Cubans likely will not improve any more than Chinese have seen.
I do think that lifting the embargo would be helpful though. If raw sewage of consumer goods might be a plague to Cuba, we can use the same means to take the message of Christ to those who need it.
“Did the embargo actually accomplish anything good? I for one, do not have an issue with ending this. We trade with far worse governments than Cuba.”
Why is that, again?
I was heartbroken when President Clinton granted China Most Favored Nation status. It will come back to bite us, all in the name of greed. Look, in the case of Cuba, they are of little economic consequence to us, but the embargo was an embargo of principle, not economics, primarily. Obama has his own set of principles and they seem to be radically different than the principles of the Founding Fathers.
As for the Pope, I can see lobbying for the release of a political prisoner, but I would like to hear the moral argument that establishing diplomatic relations with a Communist country is morally prudent, given the Church’s rock-hard opposition to Communism.
The Chicken
Just a minor note about BXVI and Cuba. Certainly, he was in favor of alleviating the situation of the Cuban people, but he realized that this could not be done by approving of or even indirectly propping up the Cuban dictatorship, and he was very careful not to give the impression of doing so during his visit to Cuba. The reason for which BXVI announced the beatification of Fr Felix Varela, a Cuban-born priest who is highly regarded by Cubans precisely for his writings about liberty, only after he had left the island was so that it was clear that the brothers Castro had nothing to do with it and couldn’t boast that it was somehow their achievement.
What people are concerned about in the recent action of the Pope and Obama in “opening up” to Cuba is that neither the US nor the Catholic Church has gotten anything out of it. Even the return of Alan Gross wasn’t the result of this, but of the exchange of not one but three (and possibly up to five) Cuban spies, one with a homicide conviction, who had been tried, convicted and jailed in the US for years. So essentially all the Pope and Obama did was rebuke US policy, get no benefit for either of the entities that they should be representing, and give a breath of life to the dying Castro regime. It’s fine to negotiate on things, but it should be for the benefit of the parties you represent, not to see how best you can conform to the position of the other side.
The embargo, btw, is not Cuba’s main economic problem, since they can trade with everyone else in the world, but because their economy is wretched to non-existent, they don’t have the money to do so. So unless we’re going to start giving foreign aid to Cuba to fill in for the loss of assistance from Venezuela and Russia (and nothing would surprise me now), they still won’t be able to buy anything.
I was a student in South Africa during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle (led, one should note, primarily by Marxists and supported by Cuba).
The arguments for isolating South Africa, its economy, and its cultural/sporting institutions from the world were exactly the same as those used for isolating Cuba — that an oppressive regime should not have free commerce with the rest of the world. When the collateral damage to ordinary people was pointed out, the argument was that they would welcome suffering to achieve liberation.
One wonders why these arguments appear to go only one political way.
Just a minor note about BXVI and Cuba. Certainly, he was in favor of alleviating the situation of the Cuban people, but he realized that this could not be done by approving of or even indirectly propping up the Cuban dictatorship, and he was very careful not to give the impression of doing so during his visit to Cuba.
His Holiness was critical of the U.S. embago on Cuba, full stop. There were not conditions attached to his criticism.
“No-one should feel excluded from taking up this exciting search by the limitations of their basic freedoms, or excused from this by indolence or a lack of material resources – a situation which is worsened when restrictive economic measures, imposed from outside the country, unfairly burden its people.” [my emphasis]
In other words, the U.S. embargo is an unfair burden upon the citizens of Cuba and should be lifted whether Cuba agrees to certain conditions or not.
People with Che junk are either weak-minded poseurs and would be iconoclasts, or are sneaking regarders. I don’t think that premises employs the weak-minded poseur. Sneaking regarder then.
I think the worse thing is the unforced error of it. Clerical Iran was tottering from sanctions. Obama and the EU offer easy negotiations and sanction relief rather then demand anything much, be it an end to chaos causing in Syria, or perhaps abandoning the ambition to build the bomb. Castro’s Cuba would end the moment Fidel passed to the hereafter. Raul has the charisma of a vacuum cleaner. Was it too much to wait a few years. Obviously, that might mean waiting for another President. President Obama probably regarded that as unthinkable, hence another weak non-victory.
Do not repay injury with injury; study your behaviour in the world’s sight as well as in God’s. Keep peace with all men, where it is possible, for your part. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved; allow retribution to run its course; so we read in scripture, Vengeance is for me, I will repay, says the Lord. Rather, feed thy enemy if he is hungry, give him drink if he is thirsty; by doing this, thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head. Do not be disarmed by malice; disarm malice with kindness.
The opening up to Cuba by lifting of sanctions is strategic on the part of the U.S. who wishes to impose sanctions and go to war with Russia.
Playing nice with Cuba means they can hopefully get Cuba to go more along with the U.S. rather than Russia, and avoid any potential scenario of Cuba housing Russian missiles again, while the U.S. surrounds Russia with missiles in NATO countries.
This is why the U.S. was also trying to instigate regime change in the Ukraine which failed preposterously that now pits Ukranians against each other, while Crimea did the only smart thing and went back to Russia. Ukranian gold has now ‘disappeared’ it’s in the midst of a brutal civil war, and the Ukranian government shot down an innocent passenger jet with fighter aircraft in an attempt to frame the Ukranian rebels. All in a bid to try and isolate Russia from the world for backing the rebels.
It’s a truly evil age and communism is everywhere under new clothing. The prophecies of Fatima have come to pass and are further coming to fruition.