Castro Praises Pope for Defense of Poor

[ckramer]

President Fidel Castro's praise of Pope John Paul II and his attendance at a Mass in the pontiff's honor — a rare sighting of the Cuban leader inside a church — filled the front pages of the island's state-run newspapers Tuesday.

Roman Catholic officials in Cuba have expressed gratitude and even surprise at the communist government's response to the pope's death. Anniversary celebrations for political organizations and baseball games were canceled and all bars and nightclubs closed as the government observed three days of mourning.

"Rest in peace, tireless fighter for friendship among peoples, enemy of war and friend of the poor," Castro wrote Monday in a condolence book for the pope at the Vatican's mission in Havana.

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[ashmanonar]

1. wow...even castro has a better sense of public presence

than chimpy mccokespoon...

[ewagner]

2. Wow!

Nice words coming from Castro.....

actually pretty classy? No?

[JohnKleeb]

3. Yes, that's how I feel about him too

Sums up pretty well what the pope meant to me.

[underthedome]

4. Oh so kind of Castro

Fucking hypercritic.

[hippiechick]

5. "hypercritic " ?

Ahahahahahahaaaaaa ... need a dictionary, by any chance ?

[underthedome]

6. wow you got me. A grammar mistake. Now why is it so funny?

I'm not good at spelling or grammar. That's what proofreaders and editors are for.

[ckramer]

9. Because he smelled something.

[Bridget Burke]

10. We have spellcheck.

Incoherence is so unhip....

[struggle4progress]

12. Liberation theology made a big impression on him.

[murielm99]

7. Muslims and Jews have acknowledged the Pope's

passing with respect, too.

There is an outpouring of respect from many unexpected places.

[underthedome]

8. Not surprised by them.

The Pope tried to bring mainstream religious groups closer to one another. He apologized to the Jews for the lack of response by the church in regards to the Holocaust and was the first Pope to visit a mosque.

[LSparkle]

11. The Pope would probably rather have Fidel and J. Carter

at his funeral than Chimperor, his lameass dad and even Bill Clinton (with whom he disagreed on many issues). Thank God there will be plenty of the faithful whose hearts are in the right place to send John Paul on his way home.