Fidel Castro and Religion (Christianity)
According to The Washington Post, the late former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro’s letters from prison suggest that he “was a man of unusual spiritual depth – and a fervent believer in God”. Writing to the father of a fallen comrade, Castro wrote:
“I will not speak of him as if he were absent, he has not been and he will never be. These are not mere words of consolation. Only those of us who feel it truly and permanently in the depths of our souls can comprehend this. Physical life is ephemeral, it passes inexorably … This truth should be taught to every human being – that the immortal values of the spirit are above physical life. What sense does life have without these values? What then is it to live? Those who understand this and generously sacrifice their physical life for the sake of good and justice – how can they die? God is the supreme idea of goodness and justice.”
Castro was baptised and raised Catholic as a child. In his autobiography “My Life: A Spoken Autobiography”, Castro wrote on his belief: “Not long ago I was telling Chavez, the president of Venezuela – because Hugo Chavez is a Christian and talks about it a lot – ‘If people call me Christian, not from the standpoint of religion but from the standpoint of social vision, I declare that I am a Christian’. On the basis of my convictions and the objectives I pursue.”
Pope John XXIII clashed with Castro in 1962 after Castro sup
