Category Archives: Peace

The Vatican’s mass for the “beloved people of Cuba”

The following homily was delivered by Cardinal Michael Czerny, the Canadian Jesuit who is prefect for the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, at a Mass for Peace and Social Development in Cuba. The mass was celebrated at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Rome on May 15. 

We have heard the Word of God that the liturgy offers us on this Friday of the sixth week of Easter. A Word imbued with perseverance and hope. In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, we see Paul weary, tried and faced with misunderstanding and rejection. Yet the Lord says to him: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking and do not be silent.” It is a word that sustains the believer’s heart in the difficult times of history. A word that preserves trust when everything seems fragile and precarious.

In the Gospel according to John, we have heard another powerful image: that of the woman suffering the pangs of childbirth who then, at the birth of the child, experiences a new joy, capable of transfiguring the pain she has endured. Jesus speaks thus to his disciples to prepare them for the time of trial, teaching them that the suffering of history is not alien to God’s work and that every authentic human journey toward peace and justice requires patience, discernment and spiritual courage.

Dear brothers and sisters, dear institutional representatives, ambassadors and authorities present here, this evening we bring before the Lord’s altar the sufferings, hopes and expectations of the Cuban people. We do so with respect, with sincerity, with deep affection for a land that cherishes a history rich in dignity, culture, sacrifice, faith and resilience.

The church’s social teaching clearly reminds us that true peace is founded on moral and spiritual pillars even before political or economic ones. In “Pacem in Terris,” St. John XXIII identified truth, justice, freedom and love as the indispensable conditions for a form of human coexistence worthy of the human person. These words retain an extraordinary power even in our own time.

Justice demands concrete attention to those who suffer most. 

Freedom calls for real opportunities for participation, listening and shared responsibility.

Truth becomes a form of sincere dialogue, capable of overcoming propaganda, hardening attitudes and mutual mistrust. 

Love opens the way to solidarity, to the sharing of material, cultural and spiritual goods amongst peoples.

From this perspective, any logic of constant confrontation risks exacerbating the burden already weighing on ordinary people, especially the poorest, the elderly, the sick and children. Pope Leo XIV, in his recent appeals to the international community, has reminded us that no stable order can arise from the force of arms or from pressure that humiliates peoples; human development, on the other hand, grows through dialogue, international law, cooperation between nations and the safeguarding of the dignity of every human being. In the same spirit, humanitarian aid should arrive in sufficient quantities and without hindrance and must never be exploited for political or geopolitical ends. 

During his 2015 apostolic journey to Cuba, Pope Francis also emphasized, in his historic homily at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, the urgent need to place the concrete person at the center of social and political life, especially the vulnerable, the wounded and the poor. He said that service “is never ideological,” because it arises from genuine attention to the face of the other; “we do not need ideas, but people.” Those words remain highly relevant today.

The appeal of St. John Paul II still resonates with prophetic intensity: “May the world open up to Cuba, and may Cuba open up to the world.” It was not a political slogan. It was a spiritual and human invitation to break down walls of misunderstanding, to create spaces for mutual trust, and to allow peoples to meet without fear.

We are here this evening above all to pray. In a short while, the Eucharist will make present the Paschal sacrifice of Christ, the crucified and risen Lord who bears within himself the suffering of peoples and the wounds of history. Before him we entrust Cuban families, young people in search of hope, those in positions of authority, those who suffer, and those who await more peaceful days.

The Gospel offers us a promise: “Your sorrow will turn into joy.” This is no naive promise. It is the Christian certainty that God continues to work within human history even when darkness and confusion prevail. The Holy Spirit continues to raise up men and women capable of building fraternity, reconciliation and paths of peace.

Let us pray, then, that the beloved land of Cuba may know days of greater serenity, of authentic human and social development, of harmony and hope. Let us pray that every political, economic and international decision may be guided by wisdom, prudence and a sincere search for the good of all people. Let us pray that the Lord may turn the hearts of men and women towards universal brotherhood.

And we ask the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, so dearly loved by the Cuban people, to accompany this nation’s journey with her maternal protection and to watch over all her children in peace.

At the conclusion of the mass, the Cuban ambassador to the Holy See, Leyde Ernesto Rodríguez, expressed gratitude on behalf of the Cuban people and government for the mass, emphasizing that his country is a nation of solidarity, peace, sovereignty, and independence, and “does not pose a threat to the national security of any other nation.”

“We have the right to live in peace, without threats of military aggression, with respect for human dignity, and without obstacles of any kind to our comprehensive economic development,” the diplomat stressed.

Canadian casualties as U.S. takes aim at Cuban businesses

by Jim Hodgson

Readers of this blog may find it odd that I am concerned about the fate of a Canadian mining company operating overseas, especially just days after a new report showed that U.S. sanctions have tripled Cuba’s infant mortality rate over the past seven years. (By the way, retired Latin American studies professor John Kirk of Dalhousie University have a new article about the impact of sanctions posted May 7 at rabble.ca.)

But Sherritt International Corp. had operated a nickel and cobalt mine in Holguín province as a joint venture with the Cuban state for more than 30 years, an arrangement that ensured Cubans shared the benefits of the mining operation. On May 7, as legal implications of new U.S. sanctions became clearer, Sherritt suspended its operations in Cuba.

In response to Sherritt’s announcement, the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) said the Canadian government must “take immediate and decisive action in defence of Canadian sovereignty, international law, and the right of Canadian companies to conduct lawful business free from foreign coercion and intimidation.”

CNC said President Donald Trump’s May 1 executive order “constitutes yet another illegal attempt to extend U.S. domestic law beyond its borders and impose Washington’s unilateral sanctions regime on the entire world. This represents not merely an attack on Cuba, but a direct assault on Canada’s sovereignty, on international trade law, and on the principle that no state has the right to dictate the economic relations of other nations.”

Further U.S. measures announced May 7 targeted Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), partner of many foreign tourist operations, and Moa Nickel SA, the joint venture between Sherritt and Cuba’s state-owned nickel company.

The current escalation is rooted in the infamous Helms-Burton Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996. The extraterritorial features of that law provoked anger in Canada and Europe, but those features were effectively waived by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. In April 2019, Trump revived then. Canada’s then foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, objected, saying Canada would “fully defend the interests of Canadians conducting legitimate trade and investment with Cuba.” She reminded Canadians that amendments in 1996 to Canada’s 1985 Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act (FEMA) stipulate that any judgment issued under Helms-Burton “shall neither be recognized nor enforceable in any manner in Canada.”

CNC now poses the question: will the current government enforce FEMA? If the Canadian government fails to act now, FEMA becomes little more than a hollow gesture, and Canada effectively concedes that U.S. law supersedes Canadian law on Canadian soil. CNC argues that Ottawa must therefore:

  • Publicly denounce the Trump administration’s Executive Order as an illegal extraterritorial measure that violates international law and Canadian sovereignty;
  • Immediately invoke and enforce the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to protect Canadian corporations operating lawfully in Cuba;
  • Provide legal, diplomatic, and financial protections to Canadian firms targeted by U.S. sanctions;
  • Coordinate with Mexico, the European Union, CARICOM nations, and other states opposing the blockade to resist Washington’s unlawful coercive measures; and
  • Reaffirm Canada’s longstanding opposition to the U.S. blockade and demand its complete and unconditional end.

Taken together, more than six decades of U.S. sanctions are described in Cuba as a blockade. The term is most apt now after more than three months of a U.S. blockade of fuel shipments from Venezuela and Mexico. The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the U.S. blockade in annual votes for more than three decades. CNC adds:

“The blockade and its extraterritorial application violate the UN Charter, international law, freedom of navigation and trade, and the sovereign equality of states. Yet Washington continues to intensify this economic siege, now seeking to punish not only Cuba, but also Canadian companies, Canadian workers, and Canadian economic interests.”

The new U.S. sanctions follow a “long-standing policy and campaign of economic warfare, sabotage and destabilization aimed at strangling Cuba regardless of the collateral damage inflicted internationally,” says CNC. “Canada must choose whether it will defend its sovereignty and uphold international law, or whether it will permit itself to be subordinated to the extraterritorial dictates of a foreign power: whether to join empire or challenge it.”

Bruce McLeod: an inspiring ecumenical educator and communicator

by Jim Hodgson

Here today, I want to share some of the words and teaching of the Very Rev. Dr. Bruce McLeod, former moderator of The United Church of Canada (1972-74) and former president of the Canadian Council of Churches (1991-94). He passed away this week at age 96.

It was in that latter role that I knew him best. (The United Church’s memorial is here, and there is more information too on the site of the United Church’s archives.) He was interviewed by Broadview magazine less than a year ago.

I can’t be sure, but I think I first met him in the mid-80s when he co-hosted the United Church’s weekly television program Spirit Connection. (Bruce was also an early ally to 2SLGBTQIA+ people who sought full inclusion and ministry in the United Church and beyond.)

In 1989, I had joined the CCC staff to serve as its secretary for ecumenical education and communication. Bruce was an inspiration for me in my new role (and long since). Some reflections from those years follow.

Entre-nous (the CCC newsletter), July 1991, p.3

Soon after his election as CCC president, he spoke to the CCC’s executive (June 21, 1991):

It’s especially important, in this kairos time of economic retrenchment in which God speaks to us for the Council to address the churches from which we come.

  • To remind them again of the Lund Principle which commits churches to doing separately in God’s world only those things which cannot be done together;
  • To summon our member churches from those ingrown, competing and duplicated enterprises which often preoccupy us;
  • To challenge separated structures (and our own denominational hearts) to think and act together – nationally, regionally and locally – in the name of Jesus who prays that we might be one.

Not for our sakes; but that the world might know that it’s bathed in the love of God, whose Spirit uses us, with others, to make the breaking world a home.

Refugee rights: “We saw their faces”

Back in the late 1980s, the government of Brian Mulroney brought in new rules to restrict the numbers of people who could claim refugee protection in Canada. Bruce was part of the CCC’s board when it launched a court challenge to a new refugee determination system in January 1989.

The churches’ concern then was much as it is today: rules were too tight and would endanger the lives of some refugee claimants by sending them back to persecution, imprisonment or possible death. The specific alarm was over the process for determining whether individuals were eligible to make a claim, and if rejected, whether they would be able to make a meaningful appeal. (We didn’t win the suit then and the fight for protection continues in the face of ever-harsher anti-refugee rhetoric and stricter measures in many parts of the world.)

In a sermon at the council’s assembly in Charlottetown in 1994, he said the churches challenged the new rules “because they knew refugees not as numbers or statistics; they saw their faces, knew their stories and wiped their tears. They heard God calling them to come; they did together what they couldn’t have done separately. It was as though something more than the initiative of the churches was at work here — as though a presence or purpose was waiting in the issues themselves, plucking at the churches to respond.”

Bruce McLeod with his successor as president of the CCC, Dr. Alexandra Johnston (1994).

To cherish and preserve this small world

I heard Bruce tell the story of his encounter in 1992 with astronomer Carl Sagan more than once. They met at a “religion and science” gathering in Washington, and he included the story in a report to the CCC executive that I reproduced in Entre-nous, the CCC newsletter, in July 1992:

“Sagan said that when the Voyager spacecraft spun past Neptune and Pluto edging beyond the solar system to wander forever across the Milky Way, its cameras focused backward for one last glimpse of home.

“’Planet earth from there is not the same as looking at it from the moon where you see the outlines of the continents. Planet earth from there is just a pale blue point of light. That’s where we live,’ he said, his brooding face alight. ‘Where every human being who ever lived, lived – every couple in love – every political leader,’ every church with its earnest positions. Voyager’s photographs he said, ‘conveyed a sense of vulnerability. At least to me it cries out the need to cherish and preserve this small world.’”

Bruce continued: “Here where it is night, we remember the words of Rubem Alves: ‘Hope is the melody of hearing God’s future, faith is dancing it now.’ Together in Jesus name, taking each other’s hands around this table and beyond our different churches, we dance as well we can.”

“God’s single love in the world”

In 1994, at the end of his term as CCC president, Bruce challenged the churches over funding cuts to ecumenical bodies. “Over-lapping mandates” was among the reasons cited for cuts to the council and the inter-church justice coalitions.

Bruce refused to accept those excuses. In a sermon delivered in Charlottetown in 1994 at the CCC’s triennial assembly, he said: “For all the shared ministries at the unpublicized edge, there’s no dearth of ecclesiastical leaders ready to explain why there have to be ten different churches, all struggling to repair their roofs, in one Ontario town with 2,200 people. For all the examples of coalition cooperation, there remain competing church publishing houses (each with separate, crushingly expensive, hymn book projects) and duplicated church head offices, each with floors devoted to world outreach and justice issues, all claiming their share of sacrificial weekly gifts dedicated, to the accompaniment of doxologies across the land, for the work of God’s single love in the world.”