UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody
Posted on August 7, 2015 by Betty Clermont
“For the umpteenth time, Cuba’s Cardinal Jaime Ortega shows his corruption and iniquity. And for the corresponding umpteenth time, the Vatican and the Pope (current and past) will do absolutely nothing about it,” noted Alberto de la Cruz who tweets and blogs “Reports from Cuba.”
Pope Francis will be visiting the Pearl of the Antilles – as Cuba is known for her natural beauty – September 19-22. Pope Benedict XVI went in 2012 and Pope John Paul II in 1998.
De la Cruz was referring to an incident this past 4th of July at a celebration hosted by the head of the US Interests Section in Havana. Officials from the U.S. and accredited diplomats were in attendance. When two members of the opposition to Castro approached Ortega to deliver a list of 51 political prisoners compiled by the Forum for Rights and Liberties, the cardinal claimed that there were no political prisoners on the island and that “the information all of you [the opposition] receive comes from ‘worm-infested’ Miami.”
“There exists a sector in the national Church that has not only turned its back on dissidents, but just like the government, it also attacks them,” said Victor Manuel Dominguez, a poet and independent journalist. “What can you expect from … the religious institution that supposedly should give shelter to all believers but repudiates dissidents,” another guest told a reporter.
During his 2012 visit, Pope Benedict XVI not only refused to meet with dissidents, but their treatment actually worsened during his time on the island. In a speech shortly after Benedict’s trip. Ortega referred to Cuban human rights activists as “low class delinquents.”
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