With one statement a Catholic priest has tarnished both the Catholic Church and the United Nations. Pretty amazing, huh?
Fr. Miguel D’Escoto, a Catholic priest who was born in America but later joined the communist Sandanistas in Niceragua, is now the current president of the UN General Assembly. Yesterday, D’Escoto called Fidel Castro “the closest thing we have to a saint.”
In case you might think I’m taking this out of context, here’s what he said yesterday at the UN, according to The Real Cuba: “I’m still in debt – and I think all of humanity is – with Fidel Castro, who has dedicated all his life to support and promote solidarity with all the oppressed people of the world. More than a hero, Fidel is the closest thing that we have to a saint in this troubled world.”
Now, according to “The Black Book of Communism,” Castro is responsible for the firing squad murder of at least 14,000 people, tyrannical oppression, and torture.
D’Escoto, whose senior advisers are Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, has not been excoriated publicly for these comments at all as far as I can see.
I can’t help but compare the dramatic reactions our cultural elite have had to Bishop Williamson’s outrageous denying of the Holocaust to their non-reaction to a priest who is head of the U.N. General Assembly who is not only ignoring the actions of a murderous regime but in fact praising the leader of that regime. And not only is he calling Castro ‘a swell guy’ like every celebrity who goes over there but D’Escoto is calling him a saint that we are indebted to.
Will there be calls for him to step down from the U.N., be excommunicated from the Church, travel to Cuba on a listening tour? Well, let’s just say I haven’t heard anything yet.
H/T Gateway Pundit
February 12, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Matthew, to put things into perspective, “Catholic” Francisco Franco is credited to have killed 35,000 under the most conservative of estimates. This is not an endorsement of Fidel OR D’escoto, just saying that in times of war/revolution, that’s just what happens.
But to your comments, I don’t think anything taken from the mouth of the Maryknollers should be taken seriously at this point in time. As an organization and individually they have lost all theological credibility. They are and have always been one of the last holdouts for liberation theology. Hello, Maryknoll??? It’s 2009, not 1979! Time to update your calendars.
On another related issue, what do you think about JP II’s visit to Fidel in Cuba? Do you think it was a mixed message? I know a few Cubans (not generally my favorite people to begin with) who detest JP II for essentially “legitimizing” Fidel during his visit. Personally, I think it was a good move on the part of JPII, as was his visit to Nicaragua (remember when he all but B-Slapped Fr Ernesto when he landed?). I don’t think a papal visit legitimizes a regime, so much as shows the people that the church hasn’t forgotten them in their time of need, even if you have to do some hand-shaking and photo shoots along the way.
February 12, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Before we condemn Franco let us recall the bloody Communist coup which killed hundreds of thousands of Spanish citizens and outlawed the faith. Without the Communist massacres which called him to duty Franco would have idled his life away as a colonial governor in the Spanish Sahara and Spain would be one of the most prosperous and democratic nations in the world.
— Mack
February 12, 2009 at 3:51 pm
“… what do you think about JP II’s visit to Fidel in Cuba?” Do you think it was a mixed message? I know a few Cubans (not generally my favorite people to begin with) who detest JP II for essentially “legitimizing” Fidel during his visit.
Was anyone even paying attention to the Pope’s visit? If memory serves correctly, the big news that week was Billy Jeff’s BJ.
February 12, 2009 at 4:43 pm
A former confrere narrated a typical Cuban lesson for kids. The pupils were asked to close their eyes & pray to God for candies. Later, they were asked to open them to see nothing. Then, the kids were asked to close their eyes again & pray to the Revolution. At this point, the teacher aides put candies on the desk. When the kids were asked to open their eyes, they see candies. And what is the lesson learned? So, no way would an atheist be the closest thing to a saint.
February 12, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Mack, I didn’t condemn anyone. I was stating that executions are standard in civil war/revolutions. So, we need to bear that in mind. It is neither a condemnation of Franco or an exhaultation of Franco. The Filipino “velvet revolution” is pretty much the only one in recent memory to have been carried out bloodlessly (not counting all the countries involved in the fall of Communism in the late 1980s).
But, Spain a propsperous country? Hogwash. Spain is an archaic, backward country even to Southern European standards. Their Empire has waned since the begining of the 1800’s and had no sign of EVER returning. Spain is now only just above the former Eastern Bloc countries of the EU. But for decades, Spain, Portugal and Greece have always been at the bottom of Western Europe econonmically. Franco had NOTHING to do with that. As a matter of fact, history shows that economies do far better under Fascism. So, I don’t know where you get this Spain potentially being prosperous. Their system is just plain broken. And this is why the leftists are back in power, as was the case in the 1920’s.
Here we go again.
February 12, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Hmmm..
Spain has a higher GDP per capita than France or Italy, roughly equivalent (within 2%) to Germany, at $34,100 per year (or within 1% of the GDP per head of Indiana residents).
Compare that to countries that fell to the Communists, nearly double that of Poland and Lithuania, and almost 3x that of Cuba.
I would not characterize the economy of Spain as backwards.
JBP
February 12, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Who is above this priest in the hierarchy? Something needs to be done to stop him from embarassing himself and his Church even more than he has already.
February 12, 2009 at 5:51 pm
He also promoted abortionists before. He is suspended from the priesthood. Communism, also is considered an evil ideology: he has long since abandoned the church!
February 12, 2009 at 6:37 pm
JB – as the saying goes, there are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics. I suggest you go to the CIA World Factbook to get the whole picture. A GDPPPP per capita income is the WRONG way to measure a country’s economy unless you are measuring the spending power of the population (i.e. you are looking to sell them something). The GDP of Spain at $1.683 trillion is FAR below that of Italy and France ($2.39 and $2.87 trillion respectively). Spain’s unemployment rate is at 10%, while Italy and France are at 6.8 and 7.5%. The reason Spain’s GDP/PPP is higher than Italy and France, is because they have a SMALLER POPULATION.
For the total economic breakdown, please see the Nationmaster Website which ranks Europe’s economies. You will see that Spain is squarely where it has always been; at the bottom just ahead of Greece and Portugal. Although, not a surprise, even Slovenia, a former Communist country is poised to surpass it.
Anyway, I’d love to continue discussing EU economics with you, but suffice it to say, Spain’s economy is backwards. We of course CAN agree that it is doing better than Communist regimes. I don’t know anyone who would dispute that, since I don’t know of ANY communist regime which has ever excelled in economics (China notwithstanding).
February 12, 2009 at 8:05 pm
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