Pope's role in Cuba deal fractures Cuban-American flock

[cbayer]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20141221_ap_75e7c3f86e634e7d8aa19e447745b691.html

MATT SEDENSKY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
POSTED: Sunday, December 21, 2014, 11:28 AM

MIAMI (AP) - The key role Pope Francis played encouraging talks between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro left fractures among his flock in South Florida, where many older Roman Catholics equate the Castro brothers with the devil.

Many Catholics worldwide have expressed pride in seeing Francis stirring hopes of progress in communist Cuba, but some Cuban-Americans say their spiritual leader betrayed them.

"I'm still Catholic till the day I die," said Efrain Rivas, a 53-year-old maintenance man in Miami who was a political prisoner in Cuba for 16 years. "But I am a Catholic without a pope."

Rivas said he cried when Obama surprisingly announced a reversal of a half-century's efforts to isolate Cuba. Then, when he learned of Francis' role, he got angry.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20141221_ap_75e7c3f86e634e7d8aa19e447745b691.html#hHUeegWTEtfjpOQA.99

[Goblinmonger]

1. Good job, Frank

I really like that he was in the middle of this. Clearly this wasn't going to happen without an intermediary. I always thought it would be Mexico. Good for him. Glad this finally happened. Just think how much better Cuba's economy would be right now if we had gotten over all of this earlier and stopped the embargo at least when the wall went down.

[cbayer]

2. While I can understand the resentment of some Cuban Americans, I agree that

this is a good thing and thank him for his participation.

[pinto]

3. Gay Cuban-Americans I know, whatever their relationship with the church, welcomed the move.

The state-sponsored oppression of gays in Cuba was at one time very extreme, especially for those gays with AIDS.

[trotsky]

4. Yes the laws criminalizing homosexuality were on the books even before the revolution. n/t

[cbayer]

5. Good to know. I think the people that take issue with the pope's involvement are invested

in something entirely different.