Posted on 01/09/2004 4:56:28 PM PST by servant675
The following is a copy of an e-mail sent to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on Dec. 16, 2003:
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This is the title I gave to this e-mail:
UNHOLY ALLIANCE - CARDINAL RENATO MARTINO AND SADDAM HUSSEIN.
Contents:
International News - December 16, 2003
Cardinal Backs Trial for Saddam Hussein
December 16, 2003 02:51 PM EST
VATICAN CITY - A top Vatican cardinal said Tuesday Saddam Hussein should face trial for his crimes, but stressed the Vatican's opposition to the death penalty and criticized the U.S. military for portraying him "like a cow" having his teeth checked.
Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said he felt compassion for Saddam and that the world should have been spared the images of his medical examination after his capture.
"I feel pity at seeing this destroyed man, treated like a cow having his teeth checked," Martino said. "I have seen this man in his tragedy ... and I had a sense of compassion."
My comments were as follows:
H. Em. Card. Renato Raffaele Martino's compassion for a murderer, Saddam Hussein, is rather a strange way for a Cardinal to act. He does not express compassion for all those Saddam has killed, but for the man responsible for their deaths. The Cardinal should adjust his priorities - start reforming the priesthood, and start correcting lukewarm Cardinals, Bishops, and priests, and then he will see true "justice" and "peace" come to this world. But first of all, he should start looking at his own soul, which is not pleasing to God. His arrogant, self-righteous attitude is causing great harm to true "justice and peace." Even the Catholic Christians in Iraq do not agree with him, for his "opinions" are not based on the Sacred Scriptures.
The balance of the portions of the news article I quoted from is as follows:
U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Jim Nicholson, said in a statement that Saddam "will now be prosecuted with dignity and justice - two basic human rights he never afforded to anyone else." He also cited praise from Iraqi Chaldean Catholics for Saddam's arrest. "A dictator, who has killed or ordered to be killed millions of people, now is no longer free to do so. As the Chaldean Catholic bishops of Iraq have said, 'Fear has ended.'"
The balance of my comments were as follows:
I write this letter with the Blessing of Pope John Paul II on my Mission, which is to awaken lukewarm Cardinals, Bishops, and priests from their "sleep," so that they may return to fulfilling the vows they made to the Lord. If you disagree with what I have written, take this letter to His Holiness for his response. And be careful about defending Cardinal Martino, and avoid broad statements which do not directly address the things written in this letter, for your response will be kept on file.
Vincent Bemowski
http://www.CatholicMessagesUSA.CatholicWeb.com/
Additional comments on the above letter:
To date, I have not received a response from Cardinal Martino, or the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Concerning the "death penalty," are not hundreds of American soldiers, and soldiers and workers from other nations, through ambushes and suicide bombers, receiving a "death penalty" (without any trial) for attempting to help bring freedom to the people of Iraq? And are not they helping to restore peace and order in Iraq, and helping to rebuild that nation? Why then the "silence" concerning the unjust "death sentence" they are receiving?
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