Cardinal: Chavez needs 'exorcism'

[IndianaGreen]

Nothing like a lunatic rightwinger in clerical robes to start talking about demons!

Cardinal: Chavez needs 'exorcism'

Sunday, July 31, 2005; Posted: 1:51 p.m. EDT (17:51 GMT)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- An outspoken Catholic cardinal took his war of words with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to a new level in an interview published Sunday, calling him "a paranoid dictator" who needs "an exorcism."

Rosalio Castillo, Venezuela's only cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, also accused Chavez of rounding up more than 100 political prisoners and torturing some captives.

"There is no democracy here (in Venezuela)," Castillo told Colombia's main newspaper, El Tiempo. "This is a despotic government."

Chavez, who insists he supports democracy, is up for re-election next year, and recent polls suggest he is strongly favored to win.

Earlier this month, Castillo warned that Chavez was gaining too much power and becoming a dictator. Chavez, in turn, called Castillo "a bandit" who "has the devil inside him."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/07/31/chavez.cardinal.ap/index.html

On edit, there is more to this story than meets the eye. Looks like the rightwing Catholic hierarchy is clearly siding with the elites. How dare Chavez promise the poor the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth? What would eliminating poverty do to the Church's message of the "valley of tears" blah, blah, blah?

Published: Sunday, July 31, 2005
Bylined to: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Church opens final Plenary Council sessions to face Bolivarian Revolution

Venezuelan Archbishop Ovidio Perez Morales says the Church must be clear in its identity and mission in facing the Bolivarian Revolution.

Kicking off a 4-day meeting of the Venezuelan Church's Plenary Council, which has been in making or the last 4 years at least, Perez Morales comments that the meeting will draw up final conclusions on culture, communication and dialogue.

A plenary council is a top-level assembly where a nation's bishops make binding decisions, subject to the approval of the pope.

The prelate admits that the sixth and final council session was put off on several occasions waiting for the political situation to ease up but Church leaders have decided to go ahead.

"The history of the Church teaches that councils have not come together during and for tranquil situations but to show the Church is firm and has its hand on the ship's helm in challenging times ... the permanent call of the Church is not to be afraid and be vigilant and confident when the horizons seem distant."

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=43757

[arcos]

1. LOL... Pope Ratzinger will be proud... nt

[IndianaGreen]

3. The clergy is goose stepping to the scent of burning incense!

It would also appear from Monsignor Perez' remarks that the Church is taking the current confrontation with the government as a repetition of the conflict between the Church and General Guzman Blanco (1870-1877,1879-1884,1886-1888). The latter started off attacking excessive Church power and later relented accepting the Church's hold on the society of the era.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=43757

You don't think that the Catholic Church in Latin America amassed its riches through the contributions of the faithful, do you? Rape and pillage are as part of the Church's historical lexicon as are the Ave Marias recited by her priests over the corpses of her victims.

[SquireJons]

18. Probably put him up to it. n/t

[bobbieinok]

2. old enuff to remember when Catholic church supported poor in

Central and South America as part of Liberation Theology.....the Maryknoll order had many sisters working for the poor in Latin America

[IndianaGreen]

4. Ratzinger was an avowed opponent of Liberation Theology

both as head of the Inquisition office, the Church's version of SOA (they change their name but the mission remains the same), and evidently now as Pope.

[1932]

19. Leonardo Boff -- the man the pope tried to silence

Buy his books here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Leonardo%20Boff/104-7021621-4484756

Introducing Liberation Theology
by Leonardo Boff, Clodovis Boff
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0883445506/qid=1122860136/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7021621-4484756?v=glance&s=books

Sacraments of Life: Life of the Sacraments (Story Theology)
by Leonardo Boff
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0912405384/qid=1122860136/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-7021621-4484756?v=glance&s=books

...and more:

Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor (Ecology & Justice Series)
by Leonardo Boff, Phillip Berryman (Translator) (Paperback - October 1, 1997)
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5. Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church
by Leonardo Boff (Paperback - January 1, 1986)
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6. Jesus Christ Liberator: A Critical Christology for Our Times
by Leonardo Boff (Paperback - June 1, 1978)
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7. Praying With Jesus And Mary: Our Father, Hail Mary
by Leonardo Boff (Paperback - March 30, 2005)
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8. Saint Francis: A Model for Human Liberation (Saint Francis Model Human Liber PR)
by Leonardo Boff
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9. Liberating Grace
by Leonardo Boff, John Drury (Translator)
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10. Trinity and Society
by Leonardo Boff, Paul Burns (Translator) (Paperback - April 2005)
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[madrchsod]

7. the church has never supported the people-

the peoples suffering on earth was to be rewarded in heaven-ya right. the church helped send hundreds of thousands to their pain ,suffering,and death working in the mines to dig out the precious metals to gild their churches. fuck the church and their golden robes and palaces.
as for the maryknolls and others, they will be rewarded in heaven for the great works they do for the chosen ones who will inherit the earth. the scum who invest the vatican did nothing to stop the deaths of these who cared. more gold and silver for the vatican and death who dared challenge them.

[daleo]

38. And the Reagan administration sure hated that.

In those days Republicans funded death squads to stamp out Liberation theology. Now Republicans pretend to be sad when a pope dies.

[despairing optimist]

5. Rosalio "Cardinal Loco" Castillo

Let's be proper here. The word "cardinal" becomes a cardinal's middle name, along with the one he has there already.

[bvar22]

6. The Catholic Church's addiction to Money, Power, and elitism

is a disgrace. If Jesus returned today, he would throw these Money Changers and Pharisees out of the Temple.

Does the Catholic Church have a tax exemption in Venezuela?
Like here, it shouldn't.

Viva Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution!
Wish it would spread North!

[HockeyMom]

8. We are reliving the Crusades and the Inquisition

all at the same time.

[DanCa]

14. Actually I kinda of equate this era as the genetic revolution

Just like the turn of the last century was the inudustrial revolustion.

[Cha]

9. This cardinal is the one who needs

the Exorcism..give to 'em, Chavez~!

[Nostradamus]

10. His supply of catemites to anally probe must have dried up

Hearing a catholic church apparatchik complain about dictatorship and torture is almost a definition of hypocrisy...

[VegasWolf]

11. A picture is worth ---

a thousand words.

[DanCa]

12. President Bush was once the tragic victim of an exorcism

They accidently took the nice guy and left us with what we now have.

[stepnw1f]

13. Another Right-Wing Holy Tool (nt)

[dArKeR]

15. Castillo, tell us about the children you have molested!!!

Pope Tells Journalists To Search For 'Truth'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/23/AR2005042301372.html?nav=rss_world/europe

The Vatican has sought the intervention of the U.S. State Department to declare Pope Benedict XVI immune from a sexual abuse lawsuit filed here, according to court documents.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3201751

Vatican said Monday there was no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians
http://www.winktv.com/x466.xml?URL=http://localhost/APWIREFEED/d8a8vi600.xml

Vatican Reportedly Clears Priest
Vaca, a former priest, is one of at least eight men in Mexico and the United States who have accused the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado of molesting them when they were teenage seminary students in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052200966.html?nav=rss_world/europe

Despite the horrific drumbeat of child molestation revelations, however, sensible Catholics hoping for a more transparent and less sexually repressed church shouldn't hold their breath. The new pope is not only a longtime leader of vicious church attacks on "evil" gays, he also has shamefully blamed the molestation scandal on the media.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/thenation/20050524/cm_thenation/20050606scheer0524_1

Vatican Accused of Child Molestation Cover-Up
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/098516.htm

Survivors Network says the overwhelming majority of its members have never sued and are too traumatized to do so. They say they adopted their tactics after bishops promised for years to take action against guilty clergy, then never did.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7463011/page/2

Pope's Nazi past
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7576505 /

[Tempest]

16. The church also supported the rightwing death squads in Central America

During the 1980's, the church publically supported the rightwing death squads and dictators.

Romero was assassinated for bucking the church and speaking out against them.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Many priests and nuns were murdered for their support of the poor

including the Jesuits killed by people trained by the SOA at Fort Benning.

Clearly, the possibility of a schism in Venezuela is possible with the hierarchy and the elites on one side, and the beneficiaries of the Bolivarian Revolution on the other side.

Fundamentalist Christianity has played a similar role in this country, keeping the faithful confused and divided lest they get funny ideas to follow Jesus's more radical ideas.

[PunkPop]

20. Look, I don't care what you think about Chavez

The guy's been fairly elected 3 times. His popularity has survived one military coup and one CIA supported recall election. He is going to win election again.

"Dictators" don't let people choose freely. Chavez has. The majority of Venezuelans support him.

[gratuitous]

41. Chavez: Chosen by all the people in a free election

Cardinal Castillo, euhhhhh, not so chosen. Now, tell me who believes in democracy? Would Cardinal Castillo like to run for his office rather than having it bestowed on him by a foreign potentate?

[Moderator]

21. kick

[IChing]

22. Cardinal: Chavez needs 'exorcism'

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- An outspoken Catholic cardinal took his war of words with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to a new level in an interview published Sunday, calling him "a paranoid dictator" who needs "an exorcism."

Rosalio Castillo, Venezuela's only cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, also accused Chavez of rounding up more than 100 political prisoners and torturing some captives.

"There is no democracy here ," Castillo told Colombia's main newspaper, El Tiempo. "This is a despotic government."

Chavez, who insists he supports democracy, is up for re-election next year, and recent polls suggest he is strongly favored to win.>>>>>snip

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/07/31/chavez.cardinal.ap/

[hiley]

23. Chavez

is not the one who needs exorcism..

[Union Thug]

24. And the outspoken Catholic Cardinal needs..

to pull his head out of his ass. 'Nuff said.

[Mairead]

30. I think the government should request that he be recalled to Rome

and replaced by a liberation theologian in the mould of Dom Hélder Câmara

[FlemingsGhost]

25. I'm sure that brought a smile to Hugo's face.

Comedy. That's all the Catholic Church is good for, these days.

A big laugh, for a big joke.

[IChing]

26. The cardinal is committing a cardinal sin of throwing the first stone

Guess he doesn't read much

[roguevalley]

28. Ah, another medieval 'solution'. I wonder what century he thinks this is?

[htuttle]

27. The Catholic hierarchy in South and Central America...

...has never seen a dictator it didn't like -- even the old pro-Nazi ones in Argentina and Chile. They have collaborated with dark forces to overthrow elected leaders, and turned the other way when members of their 'flock' (and even their own priests and nuns) were slaughtered for the cause of Mammon.

Sounds to me like this 'Cardinal' has a bad case of projection....it's he who could use an exorcism.

[mitchtv]

29. time for a promotion to Rome

GTFO of venezuela

[grumpy old fart]

32. Speaking of Cardinal Law....the Pope keeping him in little boys?

Someone had to say it.

[mitchtv]

34. Hitler youth

preferred confection

[K-W]

31. Notice this is a Cardinal, not a parrish priest.

Im guessing our friend the Cardinal isnt influenced primarily by peasants and workers.

[arcos]

33. dupe...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1667007

[iconoclastic cat]

35. Iconoclastic Cat: Cardinal needs 'ass kicking'

[donheld]

36. Long live Hugo

:yourock:

[David Zephyr]

37. LOL!

Thanks for this story, IG.

[Zorra]

39. The church hates it when the peasants it formerly controlled start getting

power and freedom through democracy.

Pope Neocon I and his operatives are really pushing the fascist authoritarian agenda, no?

But then again, this is nothing new...the catholic church has always been about protecting the wealth and power of those born into privilege.

[CatholicEdHead]

40. Cardinal should check his own theology

because what is needed before a "exorcism" can be done by Canon law is much more than this partisan political swipe says.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/11052463.htm

http://www.bugmenot.com (to login and read above story)

"Throughout U.S. dioceses, officials say demon possession is so rare that few Catholic priests and bishops have ever seen a demon-possessed person or an exorcism. In the 10 years he has handled such calls, Noonan said, not one has resulted in an exorcism."

The new rites indicate the caution with which the church approaches an exorcism. The rites require the exorcist first approach the possessed person as he would anyone suffering from a physical or psychological illness. Then he is to do extensive consultation with spiritual, medical and psychological experts.

Signs of diabolical possession include speaking in unknown languages, knowing of distant or hidden things, and the manifestation of abnormal physical strength.

“Yet each of these may be attributable to other causes and are not necessarily signs of diabolic possession,� a newsletter of the U.S. bishops' liturgy committee states. “Thus spiritual signs, such as an aversion for the name of God, the Holy Name of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Saints, the Church, the Word of God, the Church's rites or sacramentals and sacred images must be taken into consideration along with the life of faith.�