& # 39; Sodom & # 39 ;: Cuban chapter

The book Sodom Power and scandal in the Vatican this can be read as a scandalous revelation by some or as confirmation of a suspicion by others, but the truth is that more than 600 pages of the volume will give a lot to talk about inside the seminars and parishes, to reach the very religious dome.

From the fatherhood of French Frédéric Martel, Sodom It is published simultaneously in eight languages ​​and in twenty countries. The axis on which the text turns is the extension of homobaduality in the Catholic Church, but it also touches on the crisis of values, pedophile scandals, concealments and struggles of power. Cuba is not on the sidelines and the island is cited as one of the reasons for the fall of a pope: Benedict XVI.

Cuba is not left out and the island is cited as one of the reasons for the fall of a pope: Benedict XVI

The author claims to have interviewed about 1,500 people during a field survey that lasted more than four years. Cardinals, bishops, apostolic nuncios, priests and seminarians testified. "A reality that I myself have decried, even if many will consider it as a pure invention, a fable," says Martel.

Already from the prologue of Sodom It should be noted that the revelations refer to the dissolute behavior of clerics who publicly behave like moralists, but in private life they engage in a wide range of excesses and badual crimes ranging from orgies to corruption of minors and abuse.

The Cuban chapter is titled L & # 39; abdication because there it was noticed that the resignation of Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was due, among others, to the traumatic thing which proved to him that the Church of the island was not at the shelter of ills such as pedophilia, which was already known, spreading in several countries of Latin America.

In the most daring paragraph on this subject, the author tells what happened in 2012, when the pope flew to Cuba. "When the holy father listens to what he is told and that he learns before all the extent of the problem of the archdiocese of Havana, while he already knew about it. 39 extent of the "dirt" of the Church (in his own words), he now feels disgusted.According to a witness, the pope, hearing this story, cried again. "

The "evidence" of these observations comes from Martel, according to him, "three foreign diplomats accredited in Havana and several Cuban dissidents who remain on the island". To the list of confidants add "Catholics of Little Havana in Miami, the Protestant pastor of Cuban origin Tony Ramos, as well as journalists from WPLG Local 10"

The highlight of all that concerns Cuba is the meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, in which, it seems, the main theme of the conversation was about the government's relations with the Church.

The highlight of all that concerns Cuba is the meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, during which, it seems, the main subject of the conversation was about the relations between the government and the Church. The interviewer physically describes the cardinal, draws a portrait of his personality, details the environment in which he lives and traces the most familiar pbadages of his biography.

However, at least because of SodomThe journalist does not seem to have directly asked Jaime Ortega whether, from his high hierarchy in the Catholic Church, he had knowledge of cases of badual abuse or pedophilia. It does not say either whether he asked her directly about her badual preferences or whether she heard from him about it.

Other interviewees such as Orlando Márquez, Roberto Veiga, Archbishop Ramon Suárez Polcari, spokesman of the Archbishop, director of the Felix Varela Cultural Center or a layman named Andura express opinions on various topics. , especially on what the Church had to give to reach an acceptable level. Harmony with the government, but rarely alludes to the heart of Martel's investigation, which stated that "the Vatican has one of the largest gay communities in the world".

Instead, in the plot of the chapter, political and diplomatic information is juxtaposed, which the reader can relate in a cause-and-effect relationship with any interiority of the bedroom. The author also takes the ingredient of rumors and speculations that turn this part of the book into a gossip packet rather than a list of certainties.

After referring to Jaime Ortega's concessions to the Cuban government, he said: "The regime was very familiar with Jaime Ortega's relations, meetings, travels, privacy and customs, whatever they may be, given their hierarchical level and their frequent relations with the Vatican, it is clear that the cardinal was kept 24 hours a day by the Cuban political police. "

The idea seems to be a mountain, in a country endowed with an extensive network of confidants and a sophisticated political police trained in the methods of the German Stasi.

The idea seems to be a truth like a mountain, in a country endowed with a vast network of confidants and a sophisticated political police, trained in the methods of the German Stasi (Ministry of State Security) and equipped with several decades of experience, collecting loyalty purchases.

At a distance of one point and followed without making a conclusive statement, Martel adds: "One of the specialties of this police is precisely to engage personalities by filming them in their badual adventures, at home or in hotels." A good listener with few words would suffice, but a journalistic investigation requires more than innuendo.

To illustrate his thesis, the author cites generously the testimony on Miami television of an exoronel of Cuban revolutionary armed forces, Roberto Ortega, who "hinted that Archbishop Jaime Ortega would lead a double life: he would have had intimate relations with Cuban secret service agent ".

Frederic Martel goes beyond basing his half-affirmations in "one says", "certain sources affirm", or "it seems that". Too many voices opt for anonymity, the absolute absence of testimonies from victims and, of course, no conclusive documentation.

The scandals that shook the Catholic Church around the world were largely revealed by those affected and by the voluntary declbadification of certain files. It would be a miracle that the Cuban Church did not experience such cases during its 500 years of presence on the island, but these have obviously not reached the French author.

That this book encourages to talk to potential victims could be their greatest achievement in those areas where the secret has become an inseparable part of life in too much order

Instead of revelations, the part devoted to Cuba may seem to the local reader to be a repertoire of gossip, a series of half-truths or stories told from balconies to balconies. Not succeeding in convincing or dissolving life and violating the vow of chastity of priests, he ends up portraying them as victims of intrigue and opinion matrices published by State Security Laboratories.

It's a pity, because the subject promises a lot. Unless it serves the exit in the light of Sodom as a reason to open a public debate about it. It will be up to Cuban social researchers and journalists to ask their questions to the temples and ecclesiastical authorities to badume the responsibility of denying the false and revealing the truth.

That this book encourages potential victims to speak could be their greatest achievement in those areas where secrecy has become an integral part of life in too many orders: the state, the church, and the family.

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