After having said in Mexico that Communism had failed in Cuba, and that,
“Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality.”
Pope Benedict watered down his message once he got to Cuba:
Pope Calls for a More Open Society, Cooperation
In a speech on arriving here, Pope Benedict noted the progress on church and state relations, but added that “many areas remain in which greater progress can and ought to be made, especially as regards the indispensable public contribution that religion is called to make in the life of society.”
Hours later, at an outdoor mass, the pope urged Cuba to “build a renewed and open society, a better society, one more worthy of humanity and which better reflects the goodness of God.”
The WSJ calls this “a more subtle criticism of the island’s authoritarian government”, I say the Pope chickened out.
However, at least one brave man attended the open-air Mass, and he showed the Pope what real courage is:
Cuban activists [sic] evades security at papal event and yells ‘down with communism’ in front of pope
A Cuban protester was able to pierce several rings of Castro State Security set up around a papal event in Cuba and in front of the pope and the international press, he began to yell “down with communism!” The man was immediately apprehended by plainclothes security and in the video of the incident below, you can see one of the regime’s supposed medical personnel (red cross on the back of his vest) viciously sucker punch the man as he is escorted out. Welcome to Cuba, Your Holiness.
Hombre burla seguridad de misa en Cuba y grita… by Globovision
That is real moral courage.
UPDATE:
I was in Silvio Canto’s podcast, along with Raul Garcia of Pedazos de la Isla blog.
I agree. Not exactly a return to Gdansk.
The contrast is appalling.