CONTRA EL PINGALISMO CASTRISTA/
"Se que no existe el consuelo
que no existe
la anhelada tierrra de mis suenos
ni la desgarrada vision de nuestros heroes.
Pero
te seguimos buscando, patria,..." - Reinaldo Arenas
In Cuba, the Communist Party, through its Office of Religious Affairs, continued to monitor and control most aspects of religious life. Although many religious groups reported reduced interference from the government in conducting services, importing religious materials, receiving donations from overseas, and in traveling abroad, serious restrictions to the freedom of religion remained. The government regularly prevented peaceful human rights activists, including members of the Ladies in White, from attending religious services, and routinely used government-sponsored protest groups to assault or detain them. Before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, authorities arrested many members of the peaceful political opposition or prevented them from leaving their homes to participate with the Pope in celebrating mass. A number of religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons, continued their years-long wait for a decision from the Ministry of Justice on pending applications for official recognition.
Arnaldo M. Fernández
En la incesante búsqueda de modelos para la transición a la democracia en Cuba, los cubanólogos dentro y fuera de la Isla han perdido de vista que, sin poder social efectivo por no valerse atinadamente del único disponible: EE. UU., una iglesia sería el mejor modelo para una misión que ya no tiene nada de realpolitik, sino casi todo de política simbólica. No hay que ir tan lejos para dar con el modelo ejemplar. En Florida tenemos la mayor iglesia hispana de EE. UU.: El Rey Jesús, que ofrece claves muy atractivas de la razón práctica:
El culto empezó hacia 1996 con apenas doce fieles en la propia casa de los pastores fundacionales: Guillermo Maldonado y su esposa Ana Guillermo recibieron del Peter Wagner Institute tanto el Doctorado en Divinidad como la investidura de Apóstol. Ella consiguió un doctorado igual, pero honorario (True Bible Collage), y fue investida como Profeta.
Además de su propia Radio Zoe (1430 AM), El Rey Jesús larga programas por Telemundo y MegaTV.
El culto se oficia en español e inglés y el discurso espiritual se combina con efectos lumínicos especiales y con la música del grupo New Wine, bien ajustada a los ritmos de moda.
Se estima que unas 15-20 mil personas asisten semanalmente al templo sede (14100 SW Avenida 144). El Rey Jesús tiene ya iglesias hijas y satélites desde Hialeah hasta San Antonio (TX) y desde Homestead hasta Astoria (NY). Entre los sermones del Apóstol hay uno que parece muy conveniente para la transición en Cuba: cómo cambiar la mentalidad de un refugiado en un guerrero.
---------------------------- Foto: El Apóstol y la Profeta flanqueados por los representantes Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) y Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL). El Rey Jesús tiene programas para facilitar que los inmigrantes hispanos adquieran la ciudadanía americana e ingresen así en el electorado. Y los niveles de asistencia a su iglesia justifican que muchos políticos de la Florida pasen por allí de vez en cuando.
EARLIER this year Iran’s authorities arrested a score of men who, in separate incidents, claimed to be the Mahdi, a sacred figure of Shia Islam, who was “hidden” by God just over a millennium ago and will return some time to conquer evil on earth.
A website based in Qom, Iran’s holiest city, deemed the men “deviants”, “fortune-tellers” and “petty criminals”, who were exploiting credulous Iranians for alms during the Persian new-year holiday, which fell in mid-March.
Many of the fake messiahs were picked up by security men in the courtyard to the mosque in Jamkaran, a village near Qom, whose reputation as the place of the awaited Mahdi’s advent has been popularised nationwide by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When he took office in 2005 he gave the mosque $10m.
Iran’s economic doldrums may have helped to cause this surge in people claiming to be mankind’s saviour—and in women saying they were the Mahdi’s wife. “In an open atmosphere where people could criticise the government they would not believe these people,” says an ex-seminarian in Tehran, the capital, noting that most Iranians still get all of their news from state television and state-owned or -sanctioned newspapers.
Last year a seminary expert, Mehdi Ghafari, said that more than 3,000 fake Mahdis were in prison. Mahdi-complexes are common, says a Tehran psychiatrist. “Every month we get someone coming in, convinced he is the Mahdi,” she says. “Once a man was saying such outrageous things and talking about himself in the third person that I couldn’t help laughing. He got angry and told me I had ‘bad hijab’ and was disrespecting the ‘Imam of Time’,” as the Mahdi is known.
The most famous case was that of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2007 for—among other things—claiming he was the Mahdi. Like many influential “false” messiahs, he was forced to recant on state television, confessing that he had been against the Islamic Republic’s core tenets.
Mr Ahmadinejad has called his administration “the government of the hidden imam”. Last month he told a batch of new Iranian ambassadors to consider themselves “envoys of the Mahdi”. After his first speech at the UN in 2005, a video circulated showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a leading Iranian cleric that world leaders had been enchanted, during his oration, by a halo around his head that had been put there by the Mahdi himself.
de cara a la convencion de derechos humanos de ginebra donde el general de despachos espera recibir la patente de corso para presentarla a obama y kerry, ni los budistas kubiches se escapan a la contribucion a la "causa" y son exhortados a cooperar no en la medida de la cantidad de practicantes de tan ajena al chicharron y los van van religion asiatica [menos de 500], sino en el simbolo del "respeto y apoyo" del partido y el gobierno a la libertad religiosa que presentaran en el informe para ginebra.
The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) has become the center of attention since it was discovered that now deceased suspected marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a member of the mosque. ISB is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.
The Islamic Society of Boston was founded in part by Abdurahman Alamoudi in 1981, according to the New YorkSun, and was the first president of the mosque. Alamoudi is currently serving a 23 year sentence in federal prison as he was convicted in 2004 of participating in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
Additionally, according to the Sun, Alamoudi raised funds for Al Qaeda:
In July, Alamoudi was cited in a Treasury Department press release designating the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, a U.K.-based Saudi oppositionist organization, led by Saad al-Faqih, as providing material support for Al Qaeda. MIRA "received approximately $1 million in funding through Abdulrahman Alamoudi," the statement said.
"According to information available to the U.S.Government," the statement continues, "the September 2003 arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to Al Qaeda, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with Al Qaeda and had raised money for Al Qaeda in the United States." The Treasury Department has declined to provide further information, saying the material is classified.
In addition, according to an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post co-authored by local pro-Israel activist Charles Jacobs, a man named Jamal Badawi is allegedly a trustee of the ISB Cultural Center. Badawi was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, and apparently holds beliefs and has made statements that have raised additional concerns.
Before Badawi became director of the Halifax-based Islamic Information Foundation, he was allegedly a Board of Directors member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States and founding incorporator of the Muslim American Society, according to Steve Emerson.
In 2004 Badawi issued a fatwa at the website Islamonline citing six conditions for physically assaulting one’s wife.
According to the Sun, Badawi considered the September 11, 2001 attacks “un-Islamic,” telling an interviewer, "I strongly condemn the September 11 attacks ... whoever did it," adding, "It is not confirmed yet who is actually behind the attacks." He went on to say:
This has to be investigated as to who is actually behind this ... There have been allegations that I cannot confirm that people going to the market to buy vegetables are stopped in the name of inspecting their cars by [American] forces, their hands are tied and they are blindfolded. There have been cases and I want a clarification from American officials to these allegations. After inspecting their cars they are allowed to go and when the car reaches [the] checkpoint it explodes and they call them suicide bombers, perhaps the occupants of the car were not even aware that they are carrying a bomb in their car. Such incidents should be thoroughly probed.
Badawi’s friend and mentor Yousef Al-Qaradawi, according to Patrick Poole of FrontPageMag.com, has been listed as a “’Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ by the U.S. government since 1999.”
ISB sent out a press release late Saturday night responding to the bombings at the Boston marathon on Monday as well as the kill and capture of the two suspects responsible for the attack:
The Islamic Society of Boston Cambridge Masjid and community is proud and thankful to our law enforcement officials in apprehending the second Boston bombing suspect. We are also proud of our Boston community for responding immediately to the requests of the authorities for information. While we are all relieved that our weeklong nightmare has ended, it has come with the price of the life of one of our police officers who was brutally killed and another injured. We cannot help but feel deeply troubled and saddened.
Both these suspects, we have discovered, were known to our Boston Community--to our public schools, to their local boxing club, and even to the FBI. Both suspects were occasional visitors to our Faith Community in Cambridge. Our community, and people in the institutions above, are in shock to have learned the crimes of these individuals. In their visits they never exhibited any violent sentiments or behaviour. Otherwise, they would have been immediately reported to the FBI. After we learned of their identities, we encouraged anyone who knew them in our congregation to immediately report to law enforcement, which has taken place.
Reporters visited the ISB on Saturday and walked around the building. All visitors and members are required to remove their shoes before entering either of the prayer rooms. As per the Islamic religion, the genders are separated during prayers. On the upper floor, men pray to Mecca in the building’s largest room on a red illustrious carpeted floor. A foot washing area is also available on the upper floor. In the complex’s basement, near the building’s office, women pray in a considerably smaller less impressive room on a white padded floor.
Massachusetts politicians are scrambling over their own connections to the mosque and its sister organization in Roxbury. According to reports, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick rescinded an invitation for the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center to speak at last Thursday’s interfaith service in Boston to honor the Boston Marathon attack victims.
Suspected Boston Bomber's Mosque Founded by Convicted Terrorist
Cuba avanza —o retrocede— hacia un país donde cada vez más la sustentación doctrinaria se encuentra en una especie de limbo o se encierra en la burla.
Durante décadas en Cuba, el uso operativo de consignas, frases, discursos y hasta siglas no formó parte de la superestructura ideológica —tal como lo enunciaba el marxismo tradicional— sino se integró al acontecer nacional e internacional como motor económico y al mismo tiempo parte del desastre administrativo. La ideología era parte de la estructura. Esto comenzó a cambiar desde la llegada de Raúl Castro a la presidencia.
Tras la desaparición de la Unión Soviética, el sistema cubano colocó en primer lugar al nacionalismo en su escala de valores, el cual ha venido a sustituir al marxismo leninismo como fundamento o sostén. No es que el uso y abuso a la apelación nacionalista no existiera antes; tampoco se trata de argumentar la falsedad de ese soporte o lo tergiversado del término cuando lo aplica el gobierno de La Habana. Lo importante aquí es señalar que el régimen se vio en la necesidad de insistir en la existencia de una base ideológica —que iba mucho más allá de una justificación o derivado de factores estructurales y económicos, y constituía su esencia— y también hacer énfasis en el éxito obtenido con ese paradigma, a los efectos de la sobrevivencia del modelo cubano.
Una ideología que sirvió de ejemplo a imitar, esquema de importación y coyuntura importante a los efectos de una confrontación mundial que se caracterizó no por la disputa entre naciones sino por el enfrentamiento entre dos sistemas.
En este sentido, tanto la Unión Soviética como la Venezuela de Chávez sirvieron como medios de sustentación de un objetivo político y económico. Lo curioso del caso es que, en el momento en que parecía agotada la confrontación ideológica, el régimen de La Habana encontró un reverdecimiento político en donde, con anterioridad, sus fines y principios habían fracasado una y otra vez: Latinoamérica.
De enclave geopolítico para los soviéticos pasó a factor de legitimidad, dentro de la izquierda radical, para Hugo Chávez.
Al mismo tiempo, reconquistó no tanto un factor de movilización —ya que esta capacidad está asegurada, incluso por medios mecánicos desde hace mucho tiempo— sino de unidad en una cuestión política bajo el disfraz de disputa familiar: la campaña por el regreso del niño Elián a Cuba (campaña, por otra parte, que siempre fue jugar al seguro, porque en ningún momento Washington se opuso al regreso del menor junto a su padre).
Con estas dos conquistas, en el terreno nacional e internacional, Fidel Castro coronó su mandato hasta enfermarse.
Lo demás ha sido una preparación para un “posfidelcastrismo”, en que poco a poco se relega la ideología y se impone una realidad simplemente económica.
No importa que, de momento, continúe la ayuda venezolana y que se siga proclamando el nacionalismo como razón de ser del país. Cuba avanza —o retrocede— hacia un país donde cada vez más la sustentación doctrinaria se encuentra en una especie de limbo o se encierra en la burla.
Lo importante del proceso de actualización, reforma o cambio del sistema cubano es que avanza ―con mayor o menor lentitud― a través de un derrumbe de barreras. Pero cada barrera que cae no significa, para el gobierno, una liberación. Es más bien un nuevo reto. Y los retos son cada vez mayores. Se busca en ocasiones posponerlos o esquivarlos; en otras ignorarlos y, por último, reírse de ellos: tirarlos a relajo, para decirlo en buen cubano.
Pesimismo y soluciones infantiles
En fecha reciente hubo un ejemplo de esas situaciones en que la propuesta de remedio más parece una burla que una solución posible.
Raúl Castro hizo un llamado a su ejecutivo para no dejarse vencer por el “pesimismo” y enfrentar las adversidades con “resistencia”, en una reunión del consejo de ministros que analizó temas de la economía cubana.
Ya el hecho de que el gobernante de Cuba tenga que hacer una advertencia contra el pesimismo en el consejo de ministros resulta insólito.
En la época de Fidel Castro un llamado de este tipo podría oírse en la Plaza de la Revolución, durante un discurso o una arenga pública. Esa especie de llamada al orden quedaba para hacérsela al pueblo, no a los colaboradores más cercanos.
Eso de admitir, al menos la posibilidad, de que sus ministros no tuvieran el espíritu en alto —la “moral combatiente”, llena de ilusiones en el futuro— no entraba en la agenda de Fidel Castro. Antes los destituía, se los quitaba de en medio, no volvía a oír de ellos, y mucho menos verlos.
Raúl Castro invierte los términos. Advierte primero a los que tiene más cerca, para no tomarse el trabajo de tener que decírselo a toda la población. Ya los otros (los advertidos) lo harán por él.
“No nos contaminemos de pesimismo. Si trabajamos bien, todo tiene solución”, afirmó Castro en la sesión de ministros celebrada el 15 de marzo en La Habana, informó el diario Granma.
No hay que ser experto para conocer la razón que origina esta información: el fantasma de Hugo Chávez recorre la isla.
Esta es la parte rara y fea de la noticia. Ahora viene lo insólito:
Granma indicó que el mismo día de esa junta, el gobernante Castro invitó a sus ministros y a los miembros del Consejo de Estado y de la cúpula del Partido Comunista de Cuba a presenciar una obra teatral infantil por cuyo contenido consideró parte de su “preparación política y cultural”.
Según el diario, Castro advirtió que la obra Y sin embargo se mueve, de la compañía La Colmenita, convida a “buscar siempre la verdad, a creer en los sueños, a no claudicar aunque otros insten a ello, a defender con valentía nuestros puntos de vista a pesar de no coincidir con la [sic] de otros”.
Uno se pregunta si el cinismo de Raúl Castro ha llegado a un grado tal que se burla de su equipo de Gobierno, y los considera simples marionetas; si es que los pocos años en el gobierno diario de la isla lo han convertido en una réplica de menor tamaño de su hermano; si simplemente ha decidido tirar a relajo lo que, según él, es su último período de mandato.
Congreso espiritista
Hay otro ejemplo aún más reciente.
Este fin de semana se celebró en La Habana el Séptimo Congreso Espiritista Mundial, una reunión en que participaron al menos mil delegados de 24 países.
El evento se celebró bajo el lema de “Ponle corazón al espiritismo de Cuba”, pero no todo fue pura espiritualidad en las reuniones.
Los delegados también rindieron homenaje al fallecido presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez, que recibió un atronador aplauso cuando se dijo que “su espíritu nos acompaña”. Por su parte, Olga Salanueva, esposa de René González, uno de los espías que cumple condena en Estados Unidos, pidió la solidaridad del movimiento espiritista internacional en la petición a Washington para que sea liberado.
El recién electo presidente de la Federación Espírita Brasileña, César Perri, dijo a la agencia de noticias Prensa Latina que pidieron a sus espíritus que concluya el embargo norteamericano a Cuba, “un país que conocemos y queremos, y donde el pleno ejercicio de la libertad religiosa es una de las razones por las cuales estamos celebrando este congreso en La Habana”.
La utilización o el aprovechamiento de las organizaciones más disímiles con fines de propaganda no es nuevo en Cuba. Tampoco lo fue durante la guerra fría. Agrupaciones como el Consejo Mundial de la Paz nunca pasaron de ser un frente para los comunistas. No se trata de establecer comparaciones, sino de mencionar ejemplos históricos.
Lo que caracteriza a la actual etapa cubana es la reducción en el nivel —podría decirse en la calidad— de los simpatizantes a utilizar. Tras el 1 de enero de 1959, el nombre de Allan Kardec pasó a ser solo un recuerdo de los viejos anuncios en las revistas Carteles y Bohemia. En Cuba está ocurriendo que, de un consumo excesivo de ideología, el país se refugia con cada vez mayor frecuencia en el oscurantismo.
Al mismo tiempo, el referir este evento entre espiritistas a una muestra de “libertad religiosa” en la isla es un argumento bastante burdo.
No es negar que en Cuba se ha logrado un avance en el derecho individual e institucional a la práctica religiosa. Es aclarar que este avance tiene un concomitante político.
Si bien en Cuba existen 574 centros espiritistas reconocidos, además de un considerable grupo que aún se encuentra en proceso de legalización, otros grupos religiosos han enfrentado problemas o dilaciones a la hora de legalizar sus cultos.
Un informe de la agencia misionera británica Christian Solidarity Worldwide, expresa que en 2012 el Gobierno cubano “intensificó” su ofensiva contra la libertad religiosa y ordenó al menos 120 actos represivos contra grupos religiosos protestantes.
El informe denunció las presiones de las autoridades y una serie de acosos sistemáticos contra iglesias de origen metodista, pentecostal y bautista. Asimismo deploró la negativa del gobierno cubano de permitir actividades comunitarias de sus feligreses y reuniones de grupos como el llamado Movimiento Apostólico.
Un proyecto agotado
El proyecto revolucionario está agotado, pero los mecanismos de supervivencia permanecen. Este afán de sobrevivir genera tanto caos y violencia —que atentan contra la población hacen dudar sobre un mejor destino para la nación— como desilusión, apatía y cinismo, que se expresan de las maneras más diversas: desde la superficialidad hasta el fanatismo
Cuba sigue siendo una excepción. Se mantiene como ejemplo de lo que no se termina. Su esencia es la indefinición, que ha mantenido a lo largo de la historia: ese llegar último o primero para no estar nunca a tiempo. No es siquiera la negación de la negación. Es una afirmación a medias. No se cae, no se levanta.
Cualquier estudioso del marxismo que trate de analizar el proceso revolucionario cubano descubre que se enfrenta a una cronología de vaivenes, donde los conceptos de ortodoxia, revisionismo, fidelidad a los principios del internacionalismo proletario, centralismo democrático, desarrollo económico y otros se mezclan en un ajiaco condimentado según la astucia, primero de Fidel Castro y ahora de su hermano.
No se puede negar que en la isla existiera por años una estructura social y económica —copiada con mayor o menor atención de acuerdo al momento— similar al modelo socialista soviético. Tampoco se puede desconocer la adopción de una ideología marxista-leninista y el establecimiento del Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) como órgano rector del país. Todo esto posibilita el análisis y la discusión de lo que podría llamarse el “socialismo cubano”.
Sin embargo, este análisis es solo una fracción necesaria a la hora de comprender una realidad simple y compleja a la vez.
Raúl Castro ha intentado reanimar ese proyecto partidista, desde el punto de vista administrativo y político, pero en lo ideológico se ha limitado a desestimar el esquema trazado por su hermano —con todos sus vaivenes e incongruencias— para dejar un limbo que se busca llenar con frases del momento. Por supuesto que no es para sentir nostalgia por la verborrea fidelista, aunque tampoco vale la pena sustituirla ahora por la Ouija chavista.
Lighting strikes the basilica of St.Peter's dome in Vatican City during a storm on Feb.11, 2013, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation.
ROME— Church bells are sounding the alarm for doomsayers and conspiracy theorists here as cardinals convene to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
According to an ancient prediction, this next pope will be the last.
That theory dates back more than 900 years to when Malachy O’Morgair, the 12th century Archbishop of Ireland, had a vision.
Legend has it that St. Malachy, as he is now known, had a strange dream while on a visit to Rome. He “saw” all the names of the future popes – complete with identifying characteristics – who would rule the church until the end of time.
Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” as his vision is called, named Benedict XVI as the 111th – and penultimate – pope. The vision ended with the 112th pope.
Clairvoyant or crazy? In his book, “Life of St. Malachy,” St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that Malachy was respected as a clairvoyant who predicted the exact day and hour of his own death. At least one 20th century pope, Pius X, was convinced Malachy’s vision was divine, according to Rafael Merry del Val, his biographer.
But theologians and clerics argue there was never an authentic written manuscript. Malachy’s list was curiously discovered in 1590 in the Vatican archives, hundreds of years later.
“There is no historical foundation at all to St. Malachy’s list,” said Roberto Rusconi, professor of the History of Christianity at Rome’s University. “Malachy’s gift was to make other people believe in his predictions.”
Others have taken hold of Malachy’s list and compared it with history.
The first pope, according to the list, would be “from a castle on the Tiber” – for believers, that was clearly Pope Celestine II who was born on the shores of the Tiber River.
Pope Benedict was apparently described as “glory of the olives” and doomsayers point to his choice of the name Benedict, since the founder of the Benedictine Order was also known as Olivetans.
And in Malachy’s vision, the last pope – who will soon be elected – is described this way: “in extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman…”
While none of the Italian Cardinals are called Peter, one favorite to become Pope is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.
If that was not enough to send shivers down a few spines, Nostradamus, the 16th century French astrologer and seer, predicted much the same as Malachy.
Nostradamus, a mild-mannered healer, was content to mix potions until the Italian-born French queen, Catherine de Medici, raised his profile from physician to prophet.
Nostradamus warned that the next-to-last pope would “flee Rome in December when the great comet is seen in the daytime.”
Taking into account the calendar months were different hundreds of years ago, Nostradamus wasn’t so far off. The Comet ISON, with its 40,000 mile-long tail, has been visible the past couple months as Benedict prepared to abdicate and leave Rome for his temporary home in Castel Gandolfo.
And for those well-versed in the language of brimstone and fire, the signs could not have been more transparent when just hours after Benedict announced he would abdicate, a bolt of lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica, the very heart of Christianity. A few days later a shower of meteorites fell and devastated a village in Russia.
Cynics shrugged all this off as natural phenomena, while the doomsayers suffered from one more dose of existential angst.
In St. Paul Outside the Walls, another major cathedral in Rome, medallions line the walls with the names of every pope and the dates of his papacy. Legend says that when all the medallions are full, the world will finally end. On the walls of St. Paul’s, there are still some empty spaces.
Perhaps the end isn’t so near.
Are cardinals electing the last pope? If you believe Nostradamus...
Las UMAP fueron un engendro castrista en el que fueron violados los
derechos humanos de miles de jóvenes. En los campos de concentración de
Trabajo Forzado de la UMAP fueron encerradas, golpeadas y hasta
asesinadas personas que no habían cometido delito, y que nunca fueron
sometidas a procesos judiciales. La UMAP es otra deuda mas del castrismo
con la nación cubana. Esta conferencia recoge testimonios de algunas de
las víctimas.
Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley is generating buzz in Rome as a possible contender to be the next pope, even though Vatican watchers have long said an American pontiff is a longshot.
John L. Allen, a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, took note this week of the growing number of Italian newspapers and commentators who have mentioned O'Malley as a candidate or written favorably about his cleanup of the archdiocese's sex-abuse scandal.
"Right now, it's tough for an American journalist to walk into the Vatican Press Office without fielding questions from colleagues about him," Allen wrote.
O'Malley -- a distinctive figure in the monkish brown cassock of the Capuchin religious order -- isn't entertaining questions about his chances of succeeding Pope Benedict XVI when the College of Cardinals convenes.
"As the Cardinal said last week at his press conference, he has a round trip ticket to return home and will rely on the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit as the College of Cardinals enter the conclave in March," spokeswoman Kellyanne Dignan said.
O'Malley, 68, was named archbishop of Boston in 2003, after Cardinal Bernard Law stepped down amid allegations he covered up sex abuse by priests. He was elevated to cardinal three years later.
Thomas Groome, a theology professor at Boston College, said that of all the American bishops who've had to deal with the abuse crisis, O'Malley "has come closest to satisfying the victims." He sold the archdiocese's palatial headquarters and used the money for victim settlements.
A low-key personality who prizes simplicity and "isn't a hardened idealogue," O'Malley would bring a starkly different style to the papacy, Groome said.
"We'd go from Prada booties to sandals and no socks," he said. "He wouldn't be a blustering public personality like John Paul. You'd have to go back to John XXIII to find someone analogous."
Groome said that when O'Malley's name surfaced he initially laughed it off but now thinks he could emerge as the next pope from a brokered conclave where the cardinals from the northern and southern hemispheres square off.
Franco Origlia / Getty Images file
Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, attends a concistory held by Pope Benedict at Saint Peter's Basilica on November 24, 2012, in Vatican City, Vatican.
"There are 117 cardinals and probably 116 of them would love to be pope," he said. "The one who wouldn't is O'Malley and that could be why he gets it."
Rocco Palmo, who writes the popular Whispers in the Loggia blog, noted that O'Malley heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' high-profile pro-life committee, giving him exposure outside his Boston archdiocese.
But he said it's way too soon to say he's on a short-list.
"It's a wide open field, and anything is possible," Palmo said. "But there are 117 voting cardinals and in the next 25 days, I expect to hear every one of those cardinals' names mentioned."
O'Malley is no Vatican insider and some will question whether he has the managerial mettle to accomplish a much-needed overhaul of its sprawling bureaucracy. And there's never been a pope from the Capuchin order of friars, who are noted for their service to the poor.
It's been conventional wisdom that American cardinals have little chance of being the pope because of a global phobia of a U.S.-dominated Vatican. Allen says that may have changed because the country's superpower status has dimmed over the decades.
"The Americans have the second-largest voting bloc -- 11 -- after the Italians," Palmo said. "It's only natural an American name is going to appear at some point."
Previously, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was mentioned by many as America's top papal possibility. He says those predictions are off-base.
“Those are only from people smoking marijuana,” Dolan said Sunday at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
American Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, reported to be in the running to replace Pope Benedict XVI as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, is usually described as a “conservative” because he has strongly criticized President Obama’s attacks on religious liberty and federal intrusions into church affairs. But Dolan is also the leader of the campaign to promote Marxist Dorothy Day for Sainthood.
One report asks, “Could Timothy Dolan Become The First American Pope?” Dolan, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB,) is considered the voice of U.S. Catholicism.
But Carol Byrne, author of The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-1980): A Critical Analysis, says Dolan manipulated a vote by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops last November to move forward with the canonization of Dorothy Day, even though The New York Times itself noted that some of the Bishops said “she had an abortion as a young woman and at one point flirted with joining the Communist Party.”
The Times story was headlined, “In Hero of the Catholic Left, a Conservative Cardinal Sees a Saint.” Day, a major figure in the “Catholic Worker” movement, died in 1980.
In a letter obtained by this journalist, Virginia State Senator Richard H. “Dick” Black was so disgusted by the push for sainthood for Dorothy Day that he told the Pope on January 7, 2013, that he was “appalled” that “a woman of such loathsome character” would be considered for sainthood.
Black, a retired Marine Corps colonel, noted that “Vatican archives are filled with reports of Christians martyred under the regimes that Dorothy Day supported. I am revolted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ support for the canonization of a woman whose views supported the violent extermination of Christians throughout the world. I ask that these matters be carefully weighed so that the Holy See will not be inadvertently misled when considering the canonization of Dorothy Day.”
As a Marine pilot, Black fought the communists. He flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam and was wounded during fierce ground fighting with the 1st Marine Regiment.
“I am particularly concerned about her support for Ho Chi Minh,” Black said in his letter. He said that he had recently hosted a group of 12 Vietnamese men, each of whom served as senior officials in the Free Republic of Vietnam during the time when the North Vietnamese Communists overwhelmed Saigon in 1975. “Six of them were imprisoned in concentration camps no less severe than those of the Nazis in Germany,” he explained.
Regarding Dorothy Day’s “flirtation” with the Communist Party, as the Times put it, Carol Byrne told this journalist, “…I have provided proof, drawn from archival evidence and other authentic sources, that even after her conversion to Catholicism, Day became a member of several socialist organizations and was actively involved in political groups (including trade unions) whose founders and leaders were predominantly Communist Party members. She also supported the causes of individual Communists who were in the pay of the Soviet Union.”
Byrne went on, “This must be considered against the background of successive Popes who condemned communism as ‘intrinsically evil.’ They forbade Catholics from supporting Communists, and in July 1949 Pope Pius XII issued a decree of excommunication against anyone who collaborated with Communists or joined their associations. There is evidence to show that Day simply shrugged off the papal ban: she did not see communism as a real problem, or experience any moral quandary for a Catholic working in coalition with such groups professedly dedicated to ‘Justice and Peace.’”
State Senator Black said he was extremely concerned that, for almost 50 years, Day was the editor of a pro-communist newspaper, the Catholic Worker. He noted that the 58l-page FBI file on Day “contains a recommendation that Dorothy Day be considered for custodial detention in the event of a national emergency.”
His letter to the Pope went on to say that he was particularly concerned about Day’s “favorable writings regarding Lenin, Castro, Mao, and Ho Chi Minh. As you well know, each of the above dictators ordered the execution of Catholic priests among the millions of other Christians murdered by these regimes.”
Carol Byrne confirmed that Day “supported the policies of hostile foreign powers operating from Moscow, Havana, Peking and Hanoi against her own country, the USA. She also wrote favorably about such socialist dictators as Lenin, Castro, Mao and Ho Chi Minh, even though they had all violently persecuted the Church in their respective countries. Nor could she in principle bring herself to condemn the social and economic ideals of Marxism.”
Nevertheless, The New York Times reported, “Cardinal Dolan has embraced her cause with striking zeal: speaking on the anniversaries of her birth and death, distributing Dorothy Day prayer cards to parishes and even buying roughly 100 copies of her biography to give out last year as Christmas gifts to civic officials including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.”
--------------
Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism
Pope’s Possible Successor Promotes Marxist for Sainthood
A mí del Papa lo que me gustaba eran sus zapatitos rojos. Como los de la bruja de El mago de Oz, pero en plan siniestro. Los zapatitos rojos. También me gustaba mucho su voz de chocho cansino, esa es la verdad.
¿Ustedes han leído alguna vez al Papa? Yo le he echado un vistazo a algún discurso. Logos y Dios, dice en este discurso absteniéndose de cualquier decencia e intentando con una trapisonda sofista supeditar la razón a la fe. Pero decir logos y Dios equivale a decir logos y Batman. Nada más.
Pero a lo que importa, el anciano que vive en el palacio más suntuoso del planeta y se dedica a atrofiar el cerebro de los humanos con una historieta insólita de resucitados, ángeles, diablos y superticiones sin sentido, ha renunciado a ser Papa de su secta.
A mi modo de ver, es un momento apropiado para reclamar que los violadores de niños de la secta del Papa sean llevados ante la justicia. Todo lo demás que se hable sobre este asunto de la renuncia del Papa no es más que una burla a miles y miles de niños violados por miembros de su secta.
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano,
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, center, talks
to other cardinals after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation
Monday at the Vatican.
By Duncan Golestani, Correspondent, NBC News
The process of electing a new pope is clear, but few know what exactly goes on behind the Vatican’s closed doors. Pope Benedict XVI's announcement on Monday morning that he will leave office at the end of February may have taken everyone by surprise, but with the Vatican promising a new pope by Easter, events are likely to move quickly, experts say.
The new pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals, a body of around 120 men. They will vote at a special meeting, called a Papal Conclave, after Benedict’s resignation on Feb. 28. Those under the age of 80 will be eligible to vote in ballots at the Sistine Chapel. The vote is secret and conducted amid tight security.
Little is known about how cardinals reach their decision. Campaigning is not allowed, but a subtle form of electioneering still happens. Prior to the Papal Conclave, the cardinals meet in congregations to discuss the succession among themselves. Quite often they divide according to what languages they speak.
The question they are certain to ask: What type of pope does the Catholic Church need? The answers will vary according to whether they come from conservative or more liberal wings of the church. At this point groups will form around candidates, but in a subtle way.
John Wilkins, former editor of international Catholic newspaper The Tablet, says candidates emerge without personal preferences being stated aloud.
“Cardinals are pretty shrewd,” he said. “They keep their cards close to their chest. They will make up their own minds.”
So what factors will the cardinals consider? Nationality may be important. There has never been a non-European leader of the church despite the continent being home to just a quarter of the world’s Catholics. In contrast, just over half of all Catholics live in Latin America.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was a serious contender when Joseph Ratzinger was chosen in 2005.
But nationality may not be such a pressing issue for the voting cardinals as it is for outsiders -- half of the cardinals are from Europe.
Instead, Vatican watchers think the cardinals will be looking for a strong leader. One criticism repeatedly leveled at Benedict is that he failed to get to grips with the papal bureaucracy, the Roman Curia.
Now that Pope Benedict has stepped down, it's unclear who will replace him or even how Pope Benedict will be addressed in the wake of his departure. New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan is the only American so far being considered to possibly replace Benedict. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
Catholic scholar Michael Walsh says the cardinals will be looking for a leader who can govern the church.
“They need someone to sort it out. The only person who will work is a Curia official.” In other words: a Vatican insider.
A power base in the Vatican is certainly important. Ratzinger was one of the most influential men in the Roman Curia before becoming pope and was seen as Pope John Paul II’s right-hand man.
Although he will not be voting for his successor, there is little doubt Benedict’s influence will endure: He has filled the College of Cardinals with elderly, conservative European men -- just like himself.
'Cardinals are pretty shrewd': Secretive process to choose next pope to move quickly
Although
a Roman Catholic pope had not stepped down in nearly 600 years, the
startling resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was predicted by the
co-authors of a book published last spring about a medieval prophecy
that the next pontiff will be the last.
In “Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope is Here,”
co-authors Tom Horn and Cris Putnam examine St. Malachy’s “Prophecy of
the Popes,” said to be based on his prophetic vision of the next 112
popes, beginning with Pope Celestine II, who died in 1144. Malachy
presented a description of each pope, culminating with the “final pope,”
“Peter the Roman,” whose reign would end with the destruction of Rome
and judgment.
Horn explained to WND in an interview today that his conclusion
Benedict would resign rather than die in the papacy was based not only
on St. Malachy but also on a host of historical and current information.
“We took ‘The Prophecy of the Popes,’ we took what was happening in
Italian media, and we determined, based on a great deal of information,
that Pope Benedict would likely step down, citing health reasons, in
2012 or 2013,” he said.
Pope Benedict XVI was not a Benedictine priest, yet he chose the name
of Benedict, the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict, which also is
known as the Olivetans
The symbol of the Benedictine order includes an olive branch.
Benedict, speaking Monday morning in Latin to a small gathering of
cardinals at the Vatican, said that after examining his conscience
“before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an
advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise” of leading
the Roman Catholic Church.
Peter the Roman
Horn and Putnam discuss the evidence pointing to a Benedict
resignation on pages 74 and 486 of their April 2012 book, and Horn has
made the prediction on a number of radio programs in recent months, including Jan. 13.
Malachy described the last Pope as “Petrus Romanus,” or “Peter the
Roman,” writing: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church
there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many
tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and
the dreadful Judge will judge the people.”
Horn and his co-author have created their own list of 10 candidates to succeed Benedict and become “Peter the Roman.”
Interestingly, a leading candidate is Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio
Bertone, the Cardinal secretary of state, who was born in Romano,
Italy. His name could, therefore, be rendered Peter the Roman.
Another Peter on the list is a black African, Cardinal Peter Turkson
of Ghana, the current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice
and Peace.
In any case, Horn noted, Catholics believe the pope inhabits the “Petrine office” as a successor of the apostle Peter.
Other candidates on Horn’s list are Francis Arinze, Angelo Scola,
Gianfranco Ravasi, Leonardo Sandri, Ennio Antonelli, Jean-Louis Tauran,
Christoph Schönborn and Marc Quellet.
In 1880, M. J. O’Brien, a Catholic priest, published in Dublin a book
providing a “historical and critical account” of St. Malachy’s
prophecies.
O’Brien believed Malachy was declaring that the reign of the pope
identified as Petrus Romanus would culminate with the end of the world
and the return of Jesus Christ.
O’Brien describes Malachy’s vision occurring while the saint was in
Rome for a month, visiting and praying at the Eternal City’s many
historical and holy sites.
The sight of the ruins of Pagan Rome, the tombs of the
Apostles, the thought of so many thousands of martyrs, the presence of
[Pope] Innocent II, who had been obligated to wander so many years in
France and elsewhere on account of the anti-pope Anaclete – all this, I
say, filled the mind of St. Malachy with deep and sad reflections and he
was forced to cry out in the words of the old prophets: “Usquequo,
Domine non misereberis Sion?” – “How long, O Lord! wilt Thou not have
mercy on Sion?”
O’Brien continued:
And God answered: “Until the end of the world the Church
will be both militant and triumphant. Until the end of time the
sufferings of my passion and the mysteries of my cross must be continued
on earth, and I shall be with you until the end of the world.” And then
was unfolded before the gaze of the holy bishop of Armagh the long line
of illustrious pilots who were to guide the storm-tossed bark of Peter
until the end.
Malachy gave his manuscript to Innocent II, who was pontiff from 1130
to 1143. The document was placed in the Vatican archives, where it
remained unknown until its discovery in 1590.
‘Amazingly accurate’
Through the past 900 years, various critics have questioned the
authenticity and the accuracy of St. Malachy’s prophecies, often arguing
the methods used by some of his interpreters to apply his epithets to
certain popes have been tortuous.
Horn told WND he and Putnam took a critical view of “The Prophecy of
the Popes” and determined that the first part of it, the first 70 or so
predictions, probably was altered in the late 16th century.
“It appears that somebody had altered the original medieval document
from 1590 backward to promote a particular cardinal to the College of
Cardinals to be the fulfillment of what at that time was still a secret
list of popes,” Horn explained.
An advocate for Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli, Horn said, likely
“tinkered with the document to make it look like it was pointing toward
Simoncelli.”
In “Petrus Romanus,” Horn said, he and Putnam “disregard everything pre-1595, as partly or fully tainted.”
After 1595, however, “The Prophecy of the Popes” was open to public scrutiny.
Cardinale wrote “it is fair to say the vast majority of Malachy’s
predictions about successive Popes is amazingly accurate – always
remembering that he gives only a minimum of information.”
Horn noted Benedict’s brother, Georg Ratzinger, also a priest,
suggested last year that the pontiff might retire at age 85, arguing
Catholic law would allow for him to step down if his health wouldn’t
allow him to continue.
Benedict, himself, made a case for papal resignation in a book-length interview, “Light of the World.”
Asked if he thought it appropriate for a pope to retire, he said, “If
a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically,
psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his
office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an
obligation to resign.”
From the moment he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s on April 19, 2005, to greet the faithful, Benedict XVI faced an insurmountable problem: He was not John Paul II.
Benedict’s decision to resign the papacy is being blamed on his age – nearly 86 – and his health – never robust. He might just as well have been diagnosed with a broken papal heart.
Because his nearly eight years on the Throne of the Fisherman never really produced the results he hoped for. He did not unite the conservative and progressive wings of the Catholic Church. He did not re-establish its place in Europe, the work of a previous Pope Benedict and the reason he took that name. Nor did he expand its foothold in Asia, cement its dominance in Latin America, or make serious inroads in Africa. And he did not bring to fruition the ecumenical understanding with other major faiths that he hoped would bloom during his reign.
Benedict faced nearly impossible odds, even before he was elected. Joseph Ratzinger -- his given name -- was already white-haired and stooped when he became pope. He was a German of the World War II generation, and as a boy had served, involuntarily, as a member of the Hitler Youth. His last job in Rome as Cardinal Ratzinger was to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the branch of the Vatican charged with enforcing dogma and rooting out dissent. For that, he was dubbed The Chief Inquisitor and The Rottweiler. His idea of a wild night was a single glass of Riesling and an hour of playing his piano – he was an accomplished interpreter of Beethoven and Mozart.
That’s who he is. But what stymied him was who he isn’t.
His Polish predecessor as Pope, Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, exploded into worldwide prominence and popularity in 1978 as a strong, smiling face for a church that had not elected a non-Italian for nearly 500 years. In combining as his papal name both John and Paul, Wojtyla suggested to the Church that he would follow the prudent style of rule set forth by John XXIII and Paul VI – neither of them firebrands.
Then, John Paul revealed his true nature: a brilliant, conservative theologian, a master politician and historian, a nonpareil philosopher, a polished performer thanks to his youthful acting career, an unapologetic anti-communist, and an inveterate traveler. He also didn’t mind showing off. He skied. He hiked. He canoed. He sported sneakers. He watched bare-breasted African women do traditional dances. And he never stopped talking, in any of the seven or eight languages he spoke fluently, about how God loves us.
By contrast, Benedict’s meek initial outings were public relations meltdowns. His smile, though genuine, looked somehow sinister, as if he were about to bite his audience. Determined to restore the Church’s luster in Europe, where it is often treated like a dotty old aunt, Benedict gave a lecture in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006 that appeared to denigrate Islam. The non-Catholic world howled; the Vatican cringed and apologized.
On his first visit to the U.S. as pope, Benedict offered contrite apologies for the Church’s ham-handed treatment of the U.S. church’s sex scandal involving its priests. Even the pope’s humble mien did not satisfy some, who pronounced him cold and unfeeling toward the plight of victims of clergy abuse. He joined the Twitterati, but his first attempt was a sterile: “I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. I bless all of you from my heart.” At least he stayed under 140 characters.
In nearly eight years, Benedict issued three encyclicals – direct messages to the faithful that often reveal a pope’s enthusiasms and interests. Benedict’s first – entitled “God is Love” -- is a caressing, simply worded, logic-based reassurance that our Lord loves us. Yet even his writing about love suffers in comparison with John Paul’s towering, intellectual yet intimate canon of work.
None of which lessens Benedict’s place in the line of Vicars of Christ. His decision to resign was a brave one, based on personal humility, in keeping with his message to the faithful that the things of Earth are transient, but the promise of heaven lasting and infinite. For that he should be remembered.
John Moody is Executive Vice President, Executive Editor at Fox News. A former Vatican correspondent and Rome bureau chief for Time magazine, he is the author of four books, including "Pope John Paul II : Biography."
¨Saturno jugando con sus hijos¨/ Pedro Pablo Oliva
Seguidores
Carta desde la carcel de Fidel Castro Ruz
“…después de todo, para mí la cárcel es un buen descanso, que sólo tiene de malo el que es obligatorio. Leo mucho y estudio mucho. Parece increíble, las horas pasan como si fuesen minutos y yo, que soy de temperamento intranquilo, me paso el día leyendo, apenas sin moverme para nada. La correspondencia llega normalmente…”
“…Como soy cocinero, de vez en cuando me entretengo preparando algún pisto. Hace poco me mandó mi hermana desde Oriente un pequeño jamón y preparé un bisté con jalea de guayaba. También preparo spaghettis de vez en cuando, de distintas formas, inventadas todas por mí; o bien tortilla de queso. ¡Ah! ¡Qué bien me quedan! por supuesto, que el repertorio no se queda ahí. Cuelo también café que me queda muy sabroso”. “…En cuanto a fumar, en estos días pasados he estado rico: una caja de tabacos H. Upman del doctor Miró Cardona, dos cajas muy buenas de mi hermano Ramón….”. “Me voy a cenar: spaghettis con calamares, bombones italianos de postre, café acabadito de colar y después un H. Upman #4. ¿No me envidias?”. “…Me cuidan, me cuidan un poquito entre todos. No le hacen caso a uno, siempre estoy peleando para que no me manden nada. Cuando cojo el sol por la mañana en shorts y siento el aire de mar, me parece que estoy en una playa… ¡Me van a hacer creer que estoy de vacaciones! ¿Qué diría Carlos Marx de semejantes revolucionarios?”.
¨La patria es dicha de todos, y dolor de todos, y cielo para todos, y no feudo ni capellanía de nadie¨ - Marti
"No temas ni a la prision, ni a la pobreza, ni a la muerte. Teme al miedo" - Giacomo Leopardi
¨Por eso es muy importante, Vicky, hijo mío, que recuerdes siempre para qué sirve la cabeza: para atravesar paredes¨– Halvar de Flake[El vikingo]
"Como no me he preocupado de nacer, no me preocupo de morir"- Lorca
"Al final, no os preguntarán qué habéis sabido, sino qué habéis hecho" - Jean de Gerson
"Si queremos que todo siga como está, es necesario que todo cambie" - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
"Todo hombre paga su grandeza con muchas pequeñeces, su victoria con muchas derrotas, su riqueza con múltiples quiebras" - Giovanni Papini
"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans" -John Lennon
"Habla bajo, lleva siempre un gran palo y llegarás lejos" - Proverbio Africano
"No hay medicina para el miedo"-Proverbio escoces "El supremo arte de la guerra es doblegar al enemigo sin luchar" -Sun Tzu
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein
"It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office" - H. L. Menken
"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented" -Elie Wiesel
"Stay hungry, stay foolish" - Steve Jobs
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years ther'ed be a shortage of sand" - Milton Friedman
"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less" - Vaclav Havel
"No se puede controlar el resultado, pero si lo que uno haga para alcanzarlo" - Vitor Belfort [MMA Fighter]
Liborio
A la puerta de la gloria está San Pedro sentado y ve llegar a su lado a un hombre de cierta historia. No consigue hacer memoria y le pregunta con celo: ¿Quién eras allá en el suelo? Era Liborio mi nombre. Has sufrido mucho, hombre, entra, te has ganado el cielo.
Para Raul Castro
Cuba ocupa el penultimo lugar en el mundo en libertad economica solo superada por Corea del Norte.
Cuba ocupa el lugar 147 entre 153 paises evaluados en "Democracia, Mercado y Transparencia 2007"
Cuando vinieron a buscar a los comunistas, Callé: yo no soy comunista. Cuando vinieron a buscar a los sindicalistas, Callé: yo no soy sindicalista. Cuando vinieron a buscar a los judíos, Callé: yo no soy judío. Cuando vinieron a buscar a los católicos, Callé: yo no soy “tan católico”. Cuando vinieron a buscarme a mí, Callé: no había quien me escuchara.
Un sitio donde los hechos y sus huellas nos conmueven o cautivan
CUBA LLORA Y EL MUNDO Y NOSOTROS NO ESCUCHAMOS
Donde esta el Mundo, donde los Democratas, donde los Liberales? El pueblo de Cuba llora y nadie escucha. Donde estan los Green, los Socialdemocratas, los Ricos y los Pobres, los Con Voz y Sin Voz? Cuba llora y nadie escucha. Donde estan el Jet Set, los Reyes y Principes, Patricios y Plebeyos? Cuba desesperada clama por solidaridad. Donde Bob Dylan, donde Martin Luther King, donde Hollywood y sus estrellas? Donde la Middle Class democrata y conservadora, o acaso tambien liberal a ratos? Y Gandhi? Y el Dios de Todos? Donde los Santos y Virgenes; los Dioses de Cristianos, Protestantes, Musulmanes, Budistas, Testigos de Jehova y Adventistas del Septimo Dia. Donde estan Ochun y todas las deidades del Panteon Yoruba que no acuden a nuestro llanto? Donde Juan Pablo II que no exige mas que Cuba se abra al Mundo y que el Mundo se abra a Cuba? Que hacen ahora mismo Alberto de Monaco y el Principe Felipe que no los escuchamos? Donde Madonna, donde Angelina Jolie y sus adoptados around de world; o nos hara falta un Brando erguido en un Oscar por Cuba? Donde Sean Penn? Donde esta la Aristocracia Obrera y los Obreros menos Aristocraticos, donde los Working Class que no estan junto a un pueblo que lanquidece, sufre y llora por la ignominia? Que hacen ahora mismo Zapatero y Rajoy que no los escuchamos, y Harper y Dion, e Hillary y Obama; donde McCain que no los escuchamos? Y los muertos? Y los que estan muriendo? Y los que van a morir? Y los que se lanzan desesperados al mar? Donde estan el minero cantabrico o el pescador de percebes gijonese? Los Canarios donde estan? A los africanos no los oimos, y a los australianos con su acento de hombres duros tampoco. Y aquellos chinos milenarios de Canton que fundaron raices eternas en la Isla? Y que de la Queen Elizabeth y los Lords y Gentlemen? Que hace ahora mismo el combativo Principe Harry que no lo escuchamos? Donde los Rockefellers? Donde los Duponts? Donde Kate Moss? Donde el Presidente de la ONU? Y Solana donde esta? Y los Generales y Doctores? Y los Lam y los Fabelo, y los Sivio y los Fito Paez? Y que de Canseco y Miñoso? Y de los veteranos de Bahia de Cochinos y de los balseros y de los recien llegados? Y Carlos Otero y Susana Perez? Y el Bola, y Pancho Cespedes? Y YO y TU? Y todos nosotros que estamos aqui y alla rumiando frustaciones y resquemores, envidias y sinsabores; autoelogios y nostalgias, en tanto Louis Michel comulga con Perez Roque mientras Biscet y una NACION lanquidecen? Donde Maceo, donde Marti; donde aquel Villena con su carga para matar bribones? Cuba llora y clama y el Mundo NO ESCUCHA!!!
Today, the U.S. Department of State released its International Religious Freedom Report for 2012.
, in 2006 that appeared to denigrate Islam. The non-Catholic world howled; the Vatican cringed and apologized.
![NEOCASTRISMO [Hacer click en la imagen]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5jy0SZhMlaU/SsuPVOlq2NI/AAAAAAAAH1E/4xt2Bwd2reE/S150/ppo+saturno+jugando+con+sus+hijos.jpg)
