Does Francis's Book "Dialogos" show that Francis "Favors Socialism... Cuban Dictatorship... Authoritarian Role for the State... [&] not... the People"?
"Dialogos Entre Juan Pablo Ii Y Fidel Castro: Bergoglio, Jorge Mario (Coord.): 9789875073722: Amazon" [https://www.amazon.com/Di%C3%A1logos-entre-Pablo-Fidel-Castro/dp/9875073725]
Jose Azel, a senior scholar at the University of Miami, in the respected
international relations quarterly journal World Affairs wrote a review
of a book by Francis, which he wrote in 1998 while he was still the
then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, which apparently the Vatican doesn't want publicized or read.
Last time I looked, there were only a few expensive copies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio's book "Dialogos Entre
Juan Pablo y Fidel Castro [Dialogue between John Paul II and Fidel
Castro]" available on Amazon which don't seem to get any promotion.
The Spanish speaking Azel in his review of the book reported "[i]n my reading of the pope's complex Spanish prose...":
- "he favors socialism over capitalism provided it incorporates theism..."
- "He does not take issue with Fidel Castro's claim that 'Karl Marx's doctrine is very close to the Sermon on the Mount'... "
- "... and views the Cuban polity [form of government] as in harmony with the Church's social doctrine..."
- "... Francis leaves no doubt that he sympathizes with the Cuban dictatorship..."
- "... and that he is not a fan of liberal democracy or markets..."
- "... He clearly believes in a very large, authoritarian role for the state in social and economic affairs..."
- "... his language in the prologue is reminiscent of the 'liberation
theology'... very intertwined [with] Marxist ideology. Fathered by
Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez, the movement provided the
intellectual foundations that, with Cuban support, served to
orchestrate' wars of national liberation' throughout the continent. It's
iconography portrayed Jesus as a guerrilla an AK-47 slung over his
shoulder..."
- "... Francis speaks of a 'shared solidarity'... that solidarity
appears to be with the undemocratic, illegitimate authority in Cuba and
not with the people..."
- "... Cubans will remember that this pope had a choice between freedom and authoritarianism."
( World Affairs, "Whose Pope? Francis and Cuba," Fall 2015)
The University of Miami senior scholar Azel in the article in his own translation of Francis's book quotes the Francis saying:
"[N]eoliberal capitalism is a model that subordinates human beings and
conditions development to pure market forces... thus humanity attends a
cruel spectacle that crystallizes the enrichment of the few at the
expense of the impoverishment of the many."
Moreover, Francis's book "Dialogos entre Juan Pablo II Y Fidel Castro" presents
evidence that he is pro-Fidel Castro, anti-Capitalism and by inference
Anti-American because the United States is the driving force behind the
global free market system.
He wrote on page 23 that there apparently could be a "convergence" of "premises" between Communism and Catholicism:
"Fidel Castro offered a... convergence or points of connection between
Catholicism and the premises (los postulados) of the [Cuban Communist]
Revolution."
However, later in the his book he states there cannot be a convergence of premises between Capitalism and Catholicism:
You cannot hold the premises (los postulados) of "neoliberalismo"
(Capitalism) and be considered a Christian. The failures of Marxism and
Collectivism don't authorize the Capitalist system (al sistema
capitalista)... we find in "neoliberalismo" (Capitalism) the opposite of
the Gospel... because it empties man of the economic progressivism or
economic progress (los progresos economicos)."
(Dialogos entre Juan Pablo II Y Fidel Castro, By Jorge Bergoglio,
Copyright - Ciudad Argentina, Pages 48-49, Translation by Fred Martinez
with the help of a Spanish to English dictionary)