U.S. EXCERPTS: Open door to Cuba; Pope’s letter not a step toward religious war

Open door to Cuba

From the Honolulu Advertiser

With Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s deteriorating health, efforts in Congress to ease the travel and trade restrictions on Cuba are gaining momentum. And with good reason.

For 45 years, the embargo has proven to be wholly ineffective, despite insistence from the Bush administration that the sanctions are needed to push the Cuban government toward democracy.

Lawmakers, particularly from farm states, have called the Cuban embargo a “backward” policy that hurts U.S. producers far more than Fidel Castro. They’re right.

Not a step to religious war

From the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch

A document from the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prompted a swift reaction. Many Protestants despaired, as did many others.

The document must be considered in context. The letter in large part is a communication from the Roman Catholic Church to…Roman Catholics.

While dealing “with certain unacceptable ideas which have unfortunately spread around the Catholic world,” it also stresses that the ecumenical dialogue “remains one of the priorities of the Catholic faith.”

The document appears now because Benedict sees a church under siege, especially in Europe. He summons the flock to remember its “fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith.” This neither precludes interfaith conversation nor sets the stage for religious war. This is not another step toward a new Inquisition. Benedict’s critics will be disappointed to learn that heretics are not headed for the stake.