Castro says Bush presence in Italy hypocritical

HAVANA - Cuban President Fidel Castro eulogised Pope John Paul as a fierce critic of savage capitalism during a speech on Thursday night and said it was hypocritical of US President George W Bush to attend his funeral.

Castro said it was true Pope John Paul II opposed communism, but that in his later years he became a fierce critic of capitalism's abuses and in particular US imperialism. The Pope visited Cuba in 1998.

"Now they have gone to cry before the cadaver of John Paul II, who so opposed the war, who so opposed the Imperialist order, who so often condemned consumerism and this brutal war in Iraq," Castro said during his televised address.

"How far will this hypocrisy go. In my judgment (Bush's presence) is an outrage to the memory of John Paul II," he said.

Castro's government surprised many by declaring three days of mourning and granting ample state-run media coverage to the Roman Catholic Church's activities after the Pope's death.

National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon is heading the Cuban delegation to his funeral.

Castro and the Catholic Church have often been at odds since the famous Latin American rebel came to power in 1959 and repressed the church hierarchy for opposing him.

Castro attended a funeral mass for the Pontiff in Havana Cathedral on Monday. It was only the second time Castro had attended a service in the cathedral since his 1959 revolution.

Castro talked for more than four hours about the pope and his visit to Cuba. He quoted extensively from Pope John Paul's criticisms of Third World poverty, foreign debt, excessive consumerism, exploitation and war.

The Cuban leader, dressed in his traditional military garb and appearing in good health, said the Pope had been falsely portrayed as "an angel of death for Communism and socialism " when the truth was he had become US imperialism's "biggest headache."

- REUTERS