VENEZUELA: WikiLeaks Reveal Catholic Bishops Defied Pope JP2 On Chavez Ousting.

M. HERALD / K. Hall

Ten years ago, Pope John Paul II ordered Venezuela's clergy to avoid getting involved in any efforts to get rid of President Hugo Chavez...but bishops there defied him...according to a new WikiLeaks.

A Nov. 2002 confidential USA cable reported:"The Holy See is concerned about the prospect of civil violence in Venezuela in the coming months, and the pope himself has urged the Venezuelan bishops to 'cool it' on political activism and instead to encourage dialogue".

The pope's message was reportedly largely ignored.

POLAND: Complications Frustrate Path To Beatify Pope John Paul II.

GLOBAL POST/     Poles were betting that on Oct. 16 -- the 32nd anniversary of Pope John Paul's ascent to the papacy —- he would be made a saint in St. Peter's Square. Their bets now looks bad. While former Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's beatification process is close to its end, a battle has erupted in the Vatican around the late pope. But nobody in the Vatican doubts that Wojtyla will eventually be declared a saint, a growing sex abuse scandal might further complicate matters.

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