In Havana, Pope Francis is no John Paul II
https://www.aei.org/publication/in-havana-pope-francis-is-no-john-paul-ii/
Marc A. Thiessen @marcthiessen
September 22, 2015 10:44 am
Foreign and Defense Policy, Latin America
This morning, the Washington Post editorial delivers a scathing review of Pope Francis’s visit to Cuba:
The pope is spending four days in a country whose Communist dictatorship has remained unrelenting in its repression of free speech, political dissent and other human rights despite a warming of relations with the Vatican and the United States. Yet by the end of his third day, the pope had said or done absolutely nothing that might discomfit his official hosts….
Dozens of other dissidents were detained when they attempted to attend an open air Mass. They needn’t have bothered: The pope said nothing in his homily about their cause, or even political freedom more generally. Those hunting for a message had to settle for a cryptic declaration that “service is never ideological.”
To see how right this assessment is, contrast Pope Francis’s homily in Havana with that of Pope John Paul II 17 years earlier. (I was in the crowd in Havana on January 25, 1998, when the Holy Father delivered his moving message of solidarity with the oppressed people of Cuba).
Pope Francis (L) and former Cuban President Fidel Castro hold hands in Havana, Cuba, September 20, 2015. Picture taken September 20. REUTERS/Alex Castro.
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