VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said the death of Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was "sad news" and that he was grieving and praying for his repose.
Francis expressed his condolences in a Spanish-language message to Fidel's brother, President Raul Castro on Saturday.
The pope, who met Fidel Castro when he visited Cuba last year, said he had received the "sad news" and added: "I express to you my sentiments of grief."
Fidel Castro, who was a professed atheist, was baptized as a Catholic and educated in schools run by the Jesuits, the religious order of which the pope is a member.
31 comments:
A true Catholic Pope, remembering the persecution of the Catholic Faith under Castro, would have offered a simple communique thru the Secretariat of State....not offering his sentiments of grief personally. But then, Francis is a supporter of much of what Castro stood for, so what do you expect.
To be fair to Castro however, he did, last year, reconcile with the Catholic Church, confessed his sins, and received both absolution and an anointing of the sick. So, since he did, in the end, repent much and reconcile with the Church, perhaps he recognized the evil of his past as he prepared to meet the Lord.
However, Francis should have said very little. But he's not known for saying very little....about anything.
Damian Malliapalli
Disgusting, but expected.
Anthony
Remember Pope Pius XII prayed for Stalin in 1953.
"Grief": Good grief!
may they be reunited very soon.
Maybe Comrade Francis will preside at his funeral.
After almost four years he is no longer capable of surprising us. The minute I heard the news this morning I could have written this script.
Demented.
What a repugnant piece of trash this communist, adultery/rape loving monster from Argentina is!!
Karl
He's a communist,the cat's officially out of the bag.
He's a Communist sympathizer, a Liberation Theology proponent, a fanatical lover of Muslims, a rabid ecumenist with Protestants, an iconoclast, a Modernist, a radical left-winger, and a heretic to boot. Mix that all together and we have our "Pope".
Like one contributor said a few comments up, let's us indeed hope that Comrades Fidel and Francis are re-united very soon.....wherever that may be.
Damian Malliapalli
By 1953 Pius XII had already began his series of changing the oldest sacred traditions of the Church in 1945 1951 and 1953.
So,he didn't receive extreme unction from a valid Catholic priest.
He received "anointing of the sick" from a novus ordo "priest".
Repentance in his case would have included the revocation of communism in Cuba, release of persecuted peoples and restitution for harm done. Did any of that happen? None that I've heard.
Are you a priest that you can determine what penance should have been imposed? Since he was absolved you should rejoice, not condemn.
Spoken like a true Catholic.
Ever think of praying for him instead of condemning him?
Jorge Bergoglio is a socialist who admires dictatorial socialist thugs. This man is a living , breathing scandal. His continued presence in the Vatican is a sin. He knows no shame and the Cardinals and Bishops who refuse to speak against him are only making the situation worse. This is disgusting.
Fidel Castro was a notorious public apostate and murderous tyrant of the worst sort. He is required to publicly renounce his evil for him to be reconciled to the Church.
Where do you get information of his so called repentance?
May God have mercy on him as I wish the Lord to Have mercy on me. Yet, a public morning by the Holy Father over the death of a brutal dictator is the very definition of Scandal.
Don't forget he is a big fan of our (((elder brothers)))
The man behind these deformation was Anibale Bugnini. Montini was also part of the deform. After WW2 Pius XII was ill and traumatized by the atrocities of nationalist Socialism and Communist Socialism. Adaption is one thing but with the Holy Week Deforms Bugnini was testing the ground and various strategies to get his agenda through, Bugnini was a unctuous liar at Louis Bouyer called him.
Francis again should not have mentioned grief. Trump and Obama were actually more moral and accurate. Trump wrote more truthfully "The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades," Trump said in a statement issued hours after Castro's death. "Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights."
Trump, who has pledged to roll back the Obama administration's diplomatic opening to Cuba, said the nation remains "a totalitarian island," but he hopes that Castro's passing will mark "a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve."
Well, Anonymous 4:14...the "condemnations" Damian listed above happen to be FACTS. We can't change the facts. If there is any condemning here it is by Francis whose own words and actions condem HIMSELF.
And how dare you assume that Damian...or anybody else for that matter, does not pray for Francis. You should rather ASSUME that he prays. No? I certainly assume so and quite confidently.
As far as Fidel Castro goes, he was a genocidal maniac, a Communist bastard child. But even he gets Catholic prayers. That is only proper. What is not proper is to publicly "grieve" over the death of such a monster. Those who do...like another son of a whore Obama...should rightly be condemned for doing so. I expect nothing less from that filth. But for Francis to do so is scandalous!
Maybe Comrade Francis will preside his funeral.....
don't say it twice.
I don't mean to make everyone laugh, but Castro confessed and received pardon and anointing from none other than "Pope" Francis himself when he visited Cuba last year.
Was it valid? Remember what Pope Francis stands for and then decide :)
Damian Malliapalli
John 23 Paul 6 JP2 Benedict 16 all lived through WW2 just like Pius XII.
Stop with the double standards and think like a Catholic.
Pius XII was a disaster just like aforementioned 'popes'.
I cannot understand why a pope would continue to embrace communist dictators who have caused so much death and misery. It does not seem that he tries to bring them to Christ...
I am Cuban-American very well informed about all things Cuban, both on the island and in the USA. I never heard of this supposed conversion and very much doubt its accuracy.
A public sinner like Fidel Castro, for the so many crimes he performed against his people, in addition to a long and sincere confession must repent and apologise of them with contrition in a public statement.
In addition he was excommunicated ipso facto latae sententiae for his belonging to the Cuban communist party (Pius XII, Jul 14th 1949).
Did anyone hear him uttering such a public declaration?
Castro was a murderer, a thief (like his father, who was well-known for stealing the land of neighboring land holders by moving fences at night), a lying demagogue who promised elections shortly after his take-over and never delivered (except for the one-party Communist "elections"), and who fooled many by saying his revolution was not red but "as green as the Cuban royal palms." He also, with his thieving brother Raul, amassed an enormous fortune (in the billions, safely stashed in foreign banks) while the average Cuban worker earns .10 American cents an hour and lacks basic (the Western liberal propaganda notwithstanding) basic health services. Education is largely indoctrination, although there was progress in reducing illiteracy, and medical doctors trained in Cuba often in the US do not qualify as even medical assistants due to the poor training. But the liberal, lying press will have us believe that great inroads were made in health and education since Castro. The truth is different: since Castro a prosperous country that had a standard of living close to that of the USA in the 40s and 50s and a larger European immigration per capita than the US because of the opportunities available has been in ruins for half a century---all the while blaming the US embargo (as if the thieving Castro brothers did not have mercantile relations with Canada, Spain, France, and much of the rest of the world) for the failure that always accompanies socialism. I am a Cuban-American Catholic, not surprised by the latest treacherous gesture from this scandalous pope. Of course, he sincerely mourns a fellow Marxist, as he shares his vision of the world: a globalist, utopian nightmare ruled by the likes of George Soros and other globalist dictators.
Once again, dear friend Damian, you are engaging in delusional thinking---just as you do when you think that a college of cardinals stacked with leftist heretics by Francis will elect an orthodox, Catholic Pope. Catholics have never been afraid of reality, however harsh; it is the liberals who reject it for their chimerical destructive dreams. Wake up, man!
If one did not know anything of "pope" francis until this statement he made on Castro, this would be all you would need to know about this man who is supposedly pope. What a disgrace and Bergoglio himself better repent AND issue a public statement of contrition before he dies or he'll be following his friend Fidel down to Hades.
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