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Catholic World News News Feature

Vatican raps US treatment of Guantanamo detainees March 03, 2006

A Vatican prelate has criticized American treatment of prisoners at Gauntanamo Bay in Cuba. "It seems clear that human dignity is not being fully respected," said Cardinal Renato Martino.

Cardinal Martino, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, spoke to the Italian ANSA news agency after returning from a trip to Cuba, during which he met with Fidel Castro.

For the past 4 years, about 500 prisoners have been detained by American troops at the Guantanamo naval base. These prisoners, most of them captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan, are classified as enemy combatants or suspected terrorists. Their treatment has provoked complaints from human-rights activists. Only a handful have been formally charged with any crime, and the US refuses even to disclose the identities of those being held.

"If there are people being detained under those conditions anywhere in the world, without even knowing the charges against them, we will not hesitate to defend them," the Italian prelate said. He added that even if prisoners have committed a serious crime, "they remain human beings whose dignity must be respected."

Cardinal Martino declined to reply to a question from ANSA regarding whether the families of Guantanamo captives had asked the Holy See to intervene on their behalf.

The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of prisoners. In January he said that on visits to jails in many different countries, he had consistently found that "the situation is inhumane and deprived of all human dignity." The cardinal said that his Council is preparing a Vatican document on the need to treat prisoners with dignity.

Cardinal Martino had traveled to Cuba for celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the first national conference of Cuban bishops. The bishops had been unable to meet because of severe restrictions on religious activity in the years following Castro's ascent to power.