Intellectually Entertaining. Socially Relevant.
Being Latino readers probably already know that Latin America is an interesting mixtureof both progressive and oppressive laws concerning same-sex relationships. We’ve covered before how several countries allow sax-same marriages in at least parts of the individual countries. But now news coming from Uruguay has tipped the scale a little further towards the progressive side. Read More
God said, “Let there be light on this ‘first Latino pope’ issue,” and God divided the “Latino” from the “Latin American.” From the AP via HuffPo: “He is being hailed with pride and wonder as the ‘first Latino pope,’ a native Spanish speaker born and raised in the South American nation of Argentina. But for Read More
Last week BL ran two consecutive articles giving the atheist point of view (here and here), and this Christian gets it! It was a hard week for atheists. You had the appointment of a new Pope, and the Catholic Church was everywhere, so I get the reaction. Of the two articles my FB friend Hector Read More
Proving most predictions moot, the Vatican’s College of Cardinals elected (with the Holy Spirit’s counsel, of course) Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, as the new head of the Catholic Church. Widely considered by colleagues and his porteño parishoners as a humble man, upon assuming his new role as the spiritual leader for Read More
It’s finally happened: “President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela died Tuesday afternoon after a struggle with cancer, the government announced, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he languished for weeks, silent and out of sight, in hospitals in Havana and Caracas. Close to tears Read More
Days after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI goes into effective at 8pm on February 28th, the Princes of the Church, the Cardinals, from around the world will gather at the Vatican to elect from among themselves, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the next successor to Peter as the Vicar of Christ Read More
For better or worse, the Castro regime isn’t going away anytime soon: “Cuba formally assumed Monday the presidency of the Community of Latinamerican [sic] and Caribbean States during the group’s summit in Chile calling for regional integration and independence from the United States. Cuban President Raul Castro hailed the move as ‘a great honour’ and Read More
There is little peace or goodwill toward men for much of Central America: “Although Christmas is a sacred celebration in the heavily Catholic countries that make up Central America, this year, the holiday offered no reprieve from the violence and killings which plague the region. According to reports from the Spanish news agency EFE, at Read More
In Venezuela, the end is near: “President Hugo Chávez delegated to Vice President Nicolás Maduro increased administrative duties on a bunch of financial areas, further sparking rumors about the real health condition of the Venezuelan leader. In a decree issued Wednesday from his hospital bed in Havana, Chávez granted Maduro the power to perform all Read More
Professor George Ciccariello-Maher thinks post-Chávez Venezuela needs to be more like it is today: “Since [Chávez's] election, Venezuela has been fundamentally transformed. Poverty has been cut in half and extreme poverty by three-quarters, education and health care —once reserved for the wealthy— are now freely available to all Venezuelans. More important than these considerable improvements Read More