c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and a sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. Check out his home page at http://www.agreeley.com or contact him via e-mail at agreel(at)aol.com.)

UNDATED _ The media are making a big deal out of the news that Fidel Castro is permitting Christmas in Cuba this year _ on a one-time basis only _ in honor of the forthcoming visit of Pope John Paul II.

Hooray for Fidel! No one seems to take much notice that Castro is a red grinch who has stolen Christmas from the Cuban people for the last three decades.

Somehow Castro remains a hero to some Americans and to most European and Canadian intellectuals, mostly because he has”stood up”to the United States.

Anti-Americanism is so fierce these days that the Castro worshippers seem not to have noticed that he presides over a nasty little communist police state whose corruption and incompetence have made life miserable for the Cuban people _ people who have never had a chance to say whether they approve of his totalitarian dictatorship.

I wish the pope was not visiting Cuba. Obviously, his goal is to find a little elbow room for Cuban Catholics, as he did for Polish Catholics.

But in Poland he encountered a fading Communist Party and a strong and well-organized Roman Catholic Church. Castro the grinch still runs Cuba with an iron hand and the church is weak and powerless.

Whatever promises Castro might make won’t even last until next Christmas. He has a long record of going back on promises and reversing policy changes. The pope’s visit will only provide Castro with some wonderful photo opportunities that his American-hating European fans will love.

Cuban communism will win admiration and the church will come away virtually empty handed.

Moreover, this outcome will surprise only those who have paid no attention to Cuba since 1960. Castro is not only a grinch; he is a monster, a vest-pocket Stalin who ought not be tolerated by the world community.

One will hear again pleas from all sides that the United States should revoke its economic embargo against Cuba. Such a change in policy will lead to”liberalization”in Havana and prepare the way for a post-Castro transition, so the argument goes.

But the reality is that the embargo is here to stay as long as the exiled Cuban community in Miami has veto power over the actions of the Republican-controlled Senate. Moreover, it is difficult to see the logic of the argument that by appeasing Castro, the United States will prompt him to change.

The end of the embargo will simply give him more power to oppress the Cuban people.

But, his supporters say, parroting the party line, look at the wonderful improvements Castro has made in literacy and health care in Cuba. In fact, rates for both were among the highest in Latin America before Castro imposed his iron rule on his island nation. There is no reason to believe that they would not have improved even more under a non-communist government.

Moreover, the highest rates of literacy and the best health care in Latin America are found in democratic Costa Rica.

At this stage of human history, with all we know about the failures of socialism, how can anyone pretend to believe that it does anything well? This is the regime and the man that the pope will help showcase during his late-January visit.

Well, far be it from me to question the pope’s decision. Presumably, he knows who he is dealing with and what he is doing and thinks the risks are worthwhile. I only wish that there is some reasonable hope that the pope’s visit will in the long run benefit the suffering Cuban people.

But I find it difficult to think that anything will change a man who is so twisted, so vile, and so evil that he will steal Christmas.

Castro isn’t the only grinch this hemisphere has known. New England Puritans in Massachusetts outlawed Christmas until the end of the last century (by making it a regular work day). As we Americans celebrate the triumph of light over darkness at Christmas, we must be thankful that we rid ourselves of our grinches.

And we should pray that someday the Cuban people will also be free from theirs.

MJP END GREELEY