From Reuters News Service
Pope Francis grieves, prays for atheist revolutionary Castro
Reuters November 26, 2016 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. (Is the Pope "grieving" that the Atheist dictator, Fidel, is no longer with us to hold the Cuban people in Communist bondage, or that the Atheist is now, himself, in the bondage of hell? The latter can't be true because the Pope confesses to "praying for his repose". Webster's Dictionary defines the word "repose" thusly: "A state of resting after exertion or strain; especially : rest in sleep or Eternal heavenly rest." (Either way, it is a bit late to successfully pray Fidel out of hell or into heaven. He is where he is. RB)
Pope 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. ( It is interesting that Castro was "baptized as a Catholic and educated in the Pope's Jesuit Catholic schools". I am curious at the Pope's admiration for an Atheist Fidel Castro. It appears the Pope feels the Jesuit schools matriculated a commendable Fidel Castro. He certainly wasn't admired by those Cubans whose businesses and property he confiscated and whose fathers and sons were put to the firing squads. The regime he overthrew was not as bad as he. President Batista was corrupt, but at least he wasn't a Communist and didn't slaughter thousands of Cuban people as did Castro. RB)
Jesus said, "But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." Luke 12:9.
Fidel Castro’s firing squads in Cuba
Fidel Castro is often portrayed as the “benevolent” dictator of Cuba, such portrayals are unarguably wrong. The evidence of his bloodthirsty and murderous nature is unequivocal and available for anyone who wants to know the truth. Unfortunately such evidence is rarely discussed by the news media and at schools. There’s perhaps no more grizzly atrocity committed by Fidel Castro than the firing squads which he implemented. Beginning as a rebel, before he would eventually take power in Cuba, Fidel Castro used firing squad executions to enforce discipline, punish followers deemed disloyal or intimidate potential opposition. At the beginning of the Castro regime there was a reign of terror typical of revolutions in which the firing squad was used prominently but the executions continued for decades.
The Cuba Archive which documents deaths and disappearances resulting from Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution has documented 3,615 firing squad executions conducted by the Cuban state since Castro took over on January 1, 1959.
Opponents of the death penalty should be horrified at the amount of death Fidel Castro and his accomplices have directly caused. It’s important to note that in Revolutionary Cuba there are none of the due process guarantees found in a western-style democracy. Most of Castro’s firing squad victims were afforded only a perfunctory show trial the outcome of which was predetermined, some didn’t even get that. Ernesto “Ché” Guevara is a popular culture icon, his face adorns posters and t-shirts around the globe. Most people don’t realize that he was Fidel Castro’s chief enforcer and had a personal hand in at least 100 firing squad executions, often delivering the coup de grace personally. In response to questions about Castro’s firing squads Guevara once said, “To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution. And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.”
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Miami Herald Headline
Crowds gather outside of Versailles restaurant in Miami to celebrate the death of Fidel Castro
A large crowd gathered out of Versailles restaurant in Miami to celebrate the death of Fidel Castro on Nov. 26, 2016.
Al Diaz Miami Herald__________________________________________
Celebration, either for his life or death, is inappropriate.
The eternal implications of his life and death are not good. RB
