VZCZCXRO0685
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHROV #0061 0931603
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 031603Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0296
INFO WHA DIPL POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0324

C O N F I D E N T I A L VATICAN 000061 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  4/3/2016 
TAGS: ETRD SOCI VT MX BR
SUBJECT: HOLY SEE:  PROMINENT LATIN AMERICAN CARDINALS SEEK USG HELP 
IN PROMOTING FREE TRADE 
 
REF: (A) VATICAN 034, (B) 05 VATICAN 562 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher Sandrolini, Deputy Chief of Mission, 
EXEC, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  In separate meetings, two influential Latin 
American cardinals told Ambassador Rooney of their concerns for 
the continent and urged USG support for efforts to promote free 
trade and understanding of market economies to upper and lower 
classes in the region.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Taking advantage of their presence in Rome for the 
recent consistory (at which new cardinals were named, including 
two Americans - ref A) Ambassador called on Mexican Cardinal 
Juan Sandoval on March 28, and on Brazilian Cardinal Claudio 
Hummes on March 29.  DCM and Political Officer were present at 
both meetings. 
 
¶3. (C) Sandoval, after mentioning his personal dream of building 
a sanctuary in Guadalajara to commemorate Mexican martyrs, 
echoed some of our Vatican interlocutors in raising concern 
about the increasing presence of leftist leaders in Latin 
America - Castro, Chavez, Morales, Kirchner, Bachelet, and 
perhaps Lopez Obrador - and called it a dangerous trend (ref B). 
 He asked whether President Bush could help.  Sandoval said that 
under Lopez Obrador's governance, crime and violence had risen 
in Mexico City. 
 
¶4. (C) Ambassador, agreeing on the importance of the message, 
noted that A/S Shannon had discussed these issues during his 
recent visit to the Holy See, and also observed the President 
Bush had promptly raised this topic with the new papal nuncio in 
Washington.  The cardinals felt the poor in Latin America did 
not understand the potential benefits to them of free markets 
and urged USG help, acknowledging that the Church, though 
necessarily cautious, can also play a greater role. 
 
¶5. (C) Hummes, for his part, talked at length about the slide of 
the Catholic population in Brazil of about one percent annually 
for the past three decades, so that by 2000 only 73% of 
Brazilians identified themselves as Catholic.   Matching the 
fall in Catholics is a rise in numbers of fundamentalists, 
especially among the poor.  According to Hummes, no real 
dialogue occurs between the Catholic Church and evangelicals. 
It's very difficult, he said, because the evangelicals are 
aggressive and anti-Catholic (he mentioned as an example the 
Asamblea de Dios) -- they focus more now on prosperity here on 
earth, rather than on the afterlife as they used to do. 
 
¶6. (C) Hummes expressed surprise and approval of Lula as "a good 
governor, relatively young, different".  Hummes lamented 
Brazil's slow growth at only 2.5% annually, with high rates of 
tax, interest, and unemployment - he feels Brazil's economy is 
too conservative, and lacks boldness.    By contrast, China and 
India have emerged on the world stage, but Brazil has not.  The 
cardinal said Brazil needs to focus on issues such as education, 
free markets, and strengthening of regional trade groups and 
agreements such as the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.  He 
characterized Mercosur as weak and worried that the world is not 
paying attention to Latin America, which still suffers from 
chaos, weak democracy, and crippling poverty. 
 
¶7. (C) Hummes agreed with ambassador that corruption is a 
problem and that the Holy See should also pay more attention to 
Latin America.  He noted the role of the Latin American Bishops 
Council (CELAM) and the potential of next year's planned papal 
visit to Brazil. 
 
¶8. (U) Note:  Sandoval expressed interest in meeting Ambassador 
Garza.  He also discussed his conviction that his predecessor 
had been killed by the Mexican government in 1994?  Same for 
Hummes with Danilovich.  Hummes said he had recently met Consul 
General McMullen but had not had the opportunity to meet 
Ambassador Danilovich.  End note. 
 
¶9. (C) Comment:  The two meetings differed in focus - Sandoval 
more concerned about Latin American political trends, and Hummes 
more focused on social and economic troubles in Brazil - but 
shared an emphasis on the need for better understanding of the 
power of free trade and free markets in the region, and a hope 
that the United States government could help bring this about. 
Ambassador endorsed this view and also encouraged the cardinals 
to consider how the Catholic Church might contribute to that 
outcome. 
 
ROONEY