POLAND: Millions Entranced By "Their" Pope JP2's...Beatification.

BBC/ A. Easton

   Despite rains, 100,000s in Warsaw, Wadowice (pictured above) and Krakow followed Polish Pope John Paul 2's beatification in Rome on large TV screens.
   "During the ceremonies in the Vatican the streets of Warsaw were empty. You couldn't even get a cab," claimed one viewer.
    In Warsaw, Polish and Vatican flags were displayed on apartments, taxis and buses.

MEXICO: Pope JP2 Was Loved By Mexicans..."Duped" By Conservative Sex Predator Maciel.

AP/ MHERALD / A. GOMEZ LICON

    In 26 years, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico more than any nation...except his native Poland and France.
    Some Mexicans even called him Mexico's Pope because in 1979 he was the first pope to visit Mexico.
    But JP2's connection with disgraced Mexican conservative Rev.Marcial Maciel, (pictured R),  who sexually abused seminarians and fathered three children, is cited as one of the Pope's great failures on the march to sainthood.
    In 2008, Maciel died without admitting any wrongdoing.
    In 2010, the Legionaries said Maciel fathered two sons and a daughter.
    His defenders say JP2 was duped...like everyone else.

ITALY / POLAND : Protests Growing Over Rapid Pope JP2 Beatification.

GUARDIAN/  T.KINGTON

    It may be delayed furor over decades of  neglected sex abuse investigations...but protest is growing over the speedy path that current Pope Benedict has sent Pope John Paul II on towards sainthood.
    Pope John Paul 2 died just six years and one month ago...on April 2, 2005..
    Historically, there has been a five-year waiting period after a death...before beatification proceedings even begin.
    "My doubts are about John Paul being beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict," said the Catholic historian Michael Walsh. "It appears incestuous and akin to the habit of deifying one's ancestors."

AND:    The NYTimes features an opinion column titled "Hold the Halo" by Catholic Maureen Dowd echoing her strong reservations about Pope JP2's quickie beatification.
DOWD:   "As progressive as he was on those issues, he was disturbingly regressive on social issues — contraception, women’s ordination, priests’ celibacy, divorce and remarriage. And certainly, John Paul forfeited his right to beatification when he failed to establish a legal standard to remove pedophiles from the priesthood, and simply turned away for many years.
Santo non subito! How can you be a saint if you fail to protect innocent children?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/opinion/24dowd.html 
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     I was fortunate enough to literally break bread with Pope John Paul 2...in 1976...while he was still a Cardinal from Poland.
    I was then a lowly young speech writer/assistant...nervously filling-in for the governor of Illinois...at a Polish hospital's dedication in Chicago.
    He let me eat his fruit salad. We talked about skiing in the Tatras. 
    I know this will anger some...but it's still difficult for me to envision him...as a saint.

POLAND: Former Commie Leader Jaruzelski Won't Attend Pope JP2 Beatification.

POLSKIE RADIO/

   Poland's former communist leader Gen.Wojciech Jaruzelski, 87, says he will not attend the 1 May beatification of Pope John Paul II in Rome.
    Some critics have decried his attendance there.
    Jaruzelski has appeared again before the judiciary for his role in 1981's Martial Law...when thousands were interned and some 100 perished.

POLAND: Antichurch Sentiment Growing In Once Devout Catholic Nation.

NYTIMES/ MICHAEL SLACKMAN:
     "Poland is still an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, still conservative and still religious, especially when compared with its European neighbors. But supporters and critics of the Roman Catholic Church all acknowledge that the society is changing. They agree that church representatives in Poland have lost authority and credibility, and that much of the population is moving toward a more secular view of life, one with a greater separation between church and state, and a rejection of church mandates on individual morality."
AND:    “Twenty years of freedom and religion is evaporating,” he said. “This is the crisis of Christianity in Poland,” said Szymon Holownia, program director for Religia TV. In Warsaw and Krakow, about 20 percent regularly attend Sunday Mass.