Behind the Pope’s Embrace of Castro

Behind the Pope's Embrace of Castro
Speculation runs from a Trojan horse plan to Latin American antipathy of
the U.S.
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
May 17, 2015 5:42 p.m. ET

The warmth and hospitality that Pope Francis showed to Raúl Castro at
the Vatican last week has baffled many Catholics—and for good reason.
The dictator went to Rome for a PR boost. The pontiff obliged him.

During their encounter Castro mocked the faith with a quip about
returning to the church if the pope behaved. He also mocked every Cuban
refugee, dead or alive, by giving the pope, of all things, a piece of
art depicting a migrant at prayer.

Pope Francis gave the dictator a copy of his 2013 apostolic exhortation
titled "The Joy of the Gospel," in which he sharply criticizes economic
freedom. Talk about preaching to the converted. As Raúl put it, "The
pontiff is a Jesuit, and I, in some way, am too. I studied at Jesuit
schools." No kidding.

It's always possible that Pope Francis is hoping to get close to the
regime in order to change it. Maybe he has in mind a spiritual version
of a Trojan horse that once inside the gates of Cuban hell will unleash
an army of angels.

With God all things are possible. But I suspect that this papal
rapprochement with Castro has more mundane roots.

The Holy Father is a native of 20th-century Argentina, ideologically
defined by nationalism, socialism, corporatism and anti-Americanism. It
wouldn't be surprising to learn that this influences his views toward
the U.S. and the island 90 miles from its shores.

When the Cuban dictatorship lost its Soviet sugar daddy in the early
1990s, it nearly crumbled. Last year deep economic troubles again looked
as if they might force change. As Venezuelan oil subsidies to Havana
slowed, the rotting system teetered on the edge of collapse.

It was an opportunity for the church to show solidarity with the
powerless Cuban people—or at least stand back. Instead the Vatican
stepped in to help the Castros. In December we learned that Pope Francis
brokered the Obama-Castro thaw, which while unlikely to spur
improvements in human rights is already generating new interest in
investing with the military government.

Some Catholics have tried to excuse the pope's hostility toward economic
freedom in "The Joy of the Gospel" by arguing that he grew up in a
corrupt state-run economy and probably mistook it for a capitalist
system. This is nonsense. Argentine statism explicitly denounces market
economics.

There is another more plausible explanation for why the pope shows
disdain in his exhortation for "a crude and naive trust in the goodness
of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the
prevailing economic system." It lies in an Argentine sense of cultural
superiority over the money-grubbing capitalists to the north and faith
in the state to protect it.

Mexican historian Enrique Krauze traces this to an intellectual backlash
against the U.S. after the Spanish defeat in the Spanish-American war.
Examples he cites in his 2011 book "Redeemers" include the Nicaraguan
poet Rubén Darío and the Franco-Argentine historian Paul Groussac, who
both painted Americans as uncivilized beasts. According to Mr. Krauze,
the southern cone—especially Argentina—also had imported the idea of a
"socialism that fought to improve the economic, cultural and educational
level of the poor, while generating a nationalist state."

In 1900 Uruguayan José Enrique Rodó published "Ariel," which emphasized
"the superiority of Latin culture over the mere utilitarianism espoused"
by the North. Rodó was "the first ideologue of Latin American
nationalism," and his influence spread throughout the region. "Latin
Americanism, especially in the South, was also anti-Yankeeism," Mr.
Krauze writes.

Fast forward 115 years and Cuba is again a symbol of struggle between
the North and the South. Many Latin American intellectuals don't like
the dictatorship but they loathe U.S. affluence and power. They know
that a full-blown collapse of Cuba would likely bring back the
Americans. That's why they tolerate the status quo.

I can only speculate about the Holy Father's Cuba views. But he is
earning a dubious political reputation. In August 2014, he lifted the
church's 29-year ban on Maryknoll priest Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann's
right to celebrate Mass. The communist cleric who once served as
Nicaraguan foreign minister for the Marxist Sandinistas was demoted by
Pope John Paul II for refusing to get out of politics.

After the ban was lifted, Father d'Escoto rushed to denounce the late
beloved Polish pontiff for "an abuse of authority." He also declared
Fidel Castro a messenger of the Holy Spirit in "the necessity of
struggle" to establish "the reign of God on this earth that is the
alternative to the empire."

Last week Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian who launched liberation
theology, was back at the Vatican. He told journalists that the church
never condemned his brand of thinking and praised Pope Francis' views on
poverty. He didn't mention the sharp drop in Peruvian poverty since
policy makers threw out his ideas. Maybe the pope will talk about it on
his September trip to Cuba.

Write to O'Grady@wsj.com

Source: Behind the Pope's Embrace of Castro - WSJ -
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