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Friday, July 17, 2015

The Pope Has Left Me and My Fellow Citizens Discouraged

The Pope Has Left Me and My Fellow Citizens Discouraged / Hablemos
Press, Rafael Molina Rodríguez
Posted on July 15, 2015

Hablemos Press, Rafael Molina Rodríguez*, Santiago de Cuba, 10 July 2015
– The message put out by the Holy See that Pope Francis is not planning
to touch on political matters during his upcoming visit to Cuba, has
left me and my fellow citizens discouraged. We had hoped that the Pope,
in his role as Chief of State [of the Vatican], upon visiting with the
dictator Raúl Castro, would emphasize to him the need to respect human
rights and multi-party democracy.

The announcement that the Pope is coming to Cuba only to bring the
message of Our Lord Jesus Christ reminds me of Pontius Pilate, when he
washed his hands after surrendering Jesus to the Jews so that he would
be executed.

If the Pope is visiting Cuba only to bring the message of Jesus Christ,
this means that he is acting only in his capacity as Bishop of Rome and
leader of the Catholic Church—which means that he will not meet with any
political leader, including the dictator Raúl Castro, but only with
Catholic leaders.

This year is the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba
and the Holy See. A secular state with a Christian system and atheist
leaders, I suppose that neither will they speak further about the
matter, being that relations with Cuba are diplomatic, i.e. political
and not religious. I say this because the Cuban leaders, if not
Satanists, are self-confessed atheists.

This announcement makes me reflect on what is written in Matthew 23:15,
which says: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (King James Bible –
21st century).

The Pope knows very well, objectively and subjectively, that the
greatest problem facing the Cuban people is not a lack of the Gospel of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather the Castro dictatorship. If the Pope
wants to be honest, as was John Paul II, he cannot come to Cuba and meet
with the tyrant to speak only of those matters of political interest to
the regime, but rather they should also speak of what would benefit the
Cuban people, which are civil liberties, democracy and respect for human
rights.

I am almost certain that if it were Our Lord Jesus Christ who was coming
to Cuba, he would not sit down with Raúl Castro, but rather would exhort
him to cease the oppression of civil liberties, human rights violations,
and political repression and persecution, and to change his dictatorial
politics.

It is now mid-July, and between now and September, the Pope has time to
rectify his agenda, and publicize his intention, as a messenger of the
Catholic Church, to come to Cuba to preach good news to the poor, to
bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and free
the prisoners.

*Rafael Molina Rodríguez, member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba
(UNPACU), collaborates frequently with Hablemos Press.

Translated By: Alicia Barraqué Ellison

Source: The Pope Has Left Me and My Fellow Citizens Discouraged /
Hablemos Press, Rafael Molina Rodríguez | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-pope-has-left-me-and-my-fellow-citizens-discouraged-hablemos-press-rafael-molina-rodriguez/

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