CHRIST CHOSE THE FISHERMAN BECAUSE HE WAS A COMMUNIST`

HAVANA, July 14 (Reuters) - Cuba's Catholic-educated President Fidel Castro, one of history's most famous communists, believes Jesus Christ shared his political faith.

``Christ chose the fishermen, because he was a communist,'' Castro said in comments carried by state media on Friday, referring to Christ's choice of humble fishermen from the Sea of Galilee to be his first disciples.

Castro, whose once-stated atheism is believed to have possibly mellowed in recent years, made the comment during a National Assembly debate on the local fishing industry.

His brother Raul Castro -- second-in-command in the ruling Communist Party headed by Fidel Castro -- concurred entirely. ``I think that's why they killed Jesus, for being a communist, for doing what Fidel defined as Revolution ... that is to say, changing the situation,'' he said.

Fidel Castro, 73, was educated at a Jesuit-run High School in Havana. But after his 1959 Cuban Revolution, he established a socialist and officially atheist state, and declared himself a non-believer. Church-state ties were tense.

Castro has said that legendary leftist guerrilla Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara probably would have been ``made a saint'' if he had been a Catholic because he had ``all the virtues.''

END

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
July 14, 2000

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