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The art of war, Vatican style

by Judi McLeod

June 3, 2004

When George W. Bush arrives at the Vatican on Friday, he should look to Pope John Paul II for how-to advice on winning the war.

While it’s true that the 84-year-old pontiff was a staunch opponent of the U.S. launching a war against Iraq, as he would be against any war, he has a proven track record for winning his own big wars.

Behind the white robes of John Paul II is a savvy guy called Karol Wojtyla, certain victor in the war against communism.

Karol Wojtyla, is of course, the bishop of Poland who went on to became Pope John Paul 11.

It all started with the struggle to build the humble Nowa Huta church, one of the great clashes between the Catholic Church and the Communists in post-war Poland, the country of John Paul’s birth.

according to a biography posted on the Vatican website, "It is a small gem of a story, multifaceted and 20 years in the making."

"Nowa Huta was a kind of test-tube town built by the Communists in the early 1950s, just outside of Krakow. The town, part of Bishop Karol Wojtyla’s jurisdiction, was meant to be a worker’s paradise, built strictly on Communist principles, supposedly an enduring rebuke to the "decadent", "spiritually besotted" Krakow, where folk insisted on worshipping in a real church. The regime assumed, of course that the workers would all be atheists, so the town was built without grace of church or steeple.

It didn’t take long for the workers to make it clear that they wanted a church. Wojtyla communicated their desire to the powers that be, and the regime immediately opposed it.

The conflict wouldn’t go away and neither would Karol Wojtyla.

according to the Vatican website, "The conflict became an intense symbol of the opposition between the Catholic Church and the Communist State. It was a conflict between the workers’ world that was supposed to be beyond religion–and the actual workers singing old Polish hymns that started with the words, `We want God.’ The Communist Party reluctantly issued a permit in 1958 and withdrew it in 1962."

But steadfast Bishop Karol Wojtyla was about to prove that there is more than one way to win the war.

Years went by and Wojtyla, joined by other priests met with authorities and patiently filed and refiled for building permits. Crosses were put up in the designated area and were then pulled down in the darkness of night, only to reappear weeks later.

Says the Vatican website: "Meanwhile, Bishop Wojtyla and other priests gave sermons in the open field, winter and summer, under a burning sun, in freezing rain and snow. Year after year, Wojtyla celebrated Christmas Mass at the site where the church was supposed to be built. Thousands peacefully lined up for communion, but tension was building.

"By this time, the Communists, local leaders, residents and Catholic Church had dug in, their positions seemingly intractable. The Communists’ compromise to allow a church to be built outside the town was ejected–until Karol Wojtyla, the realist, the negotiator broke the stalemate, persuading everyone that the existence of the church transcended all other considerations. The time to bend was now.

"In May 1977, one year before he became Pope–almost 20 years after the first request for a permit–Karol Wojtyla dedicated the church at Nowa Huta.

"What the worshippers were most proud of, and it was a symbol Karol Wojtyla helped make into a reality, was the giant crucifix that hung over the altar. It was made out of shrapnel that had been taken from the wounds of Polish soldiers, collected and sent from all over the country to make the sculpture for the new church.

"From the first day of his election, John Paul 11’s pontificate raised concern in Central Committee headquarters. Canadian reporter Eric Margolis (Toronto Sun) put it this way: `I was the first Western journalist inside the KGB headquarters in 1990. The generals told me that the Vatican, and the Pope above all, was regarded as their number one, most dangerous enemy in the world.’"

We don’t have to rely only on journalists to understand the full impact of John Paul II on the fall of communism. It was the Polish pope who rocked former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev to the very core of his atheist foundations. Gorbachev, who, with a little help from UN friends, was to someday go on to replace the Ten Commandments with the Earth Charter gave this due to the Kremlin’s number one enemy: "It would have been impossible without the pope."

Meanwhile, the Vatican’s red carpet of welcome may be more open to an anti-abortion Bush than it would be to a pro-abortion, albeit flip-flopping, John Kerry. and there seems to be room for dialogue.

The U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, James Nicholson said, he expected Bush and the Pope "will have a very meaningful exchange on Iraq, the Middle East and terrorism" and said John Paul was "very supportive of our efforts" to combat terrorist threats.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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