Pope John Paul 2's Long-time Female Friend Criticized

The Catholic church still doesn't get it.

Not only the current Pope's personal misstatements...and PR errors...but seemingly down the ranks.

Witness the following report:

Catholic Church officials are criticising a recent memoir published by an 87-year-old female friend of the late Pope John Paul ll.

They claim she is "exaggerating" the importance of her correspondence with the pope and... possibly delaying his beatification.

Wanda Poltawska was a lifelong friend of Karol Wojtyla in Poland...who later became a Cardinal...then Pope John Paul ll.

This sadness of this attack on Wanda Poltawska has particular resonance for me...because of a luncheon I attended in Chicago in 1976...with the then-Cardinal of Krakow.

We shared the same table... along with Chicago's infamous Mayor Richard J. Daley and Chicago's John Cardinal Cody.

My mother found a place of honor in her home... for a photo taken of me and Cardinal Wojtyla...at the event.

Cardinal Wojtyla was kind to me that day as the young representative for the Governor of the State of Illinois at the dedication of a Polish hospital.

But is /was he a saint?

Or... just a man with friends, faults and a victim of Communist-era dentistry?http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5itMj0B3ZF-nuk2FjR7KbQNia9BRgD98P41902