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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
John Paul 11 nazi collaborator?	Jim	Thursday, November 25, 2004
Question: Dear Bros. Ignatius I have a friend who is no child and a well read individual who is a secularist. In his subtle way he baits me with his take on the Catholic Church, as if he thinks he will convert me to be an "open minded thinker". The most recent conversation, he had tried to convey that the Church is the wounded head of the serpent (i didn't look up the correct quote) that is mentioned in Revelations. After my, what I thought was a good defense, of the Church, he comes up with, "well, you know that John Paul was a good salesman and sold gas to the Nazis."! Well, I defended that too, I believe successfully to anyone with a balanced, logical mind..... My friend seems to be the type of person that believes everything that is written, no matter how outlandish, especially if it's a conspiracy theory. There is an article online that says that Karol Wojtyla worked as a salesman for a chemical company(ies) and sold cynide gas to the Nazis in occupied Poland. Can you shed some light on this? Thank you for answering --you have helped me quite a bit in the recent past! God Bless! jim
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+ Dear Jim: Well to begin with it is YOU who have the open mind and your friend has the closed mind -- unless we define open mindedness as one being so open that their brains fall out. True open-mindedness is a mind open to the Truth. God has created human beings with the inherent desire to pursue truth; we are ordered toward truth. Thus to be open-minded is to be open to the truth. The so-called "free thinkers" are neither open-minded or free thinking. They are closed to the truth, which by definition means that they are not free thinkers since, as we know, the TRUTH will set us free. If "free thinkers" are closed to the truth, then they are not free but enslaved to their passions, biases, pride, or whatnot. Do not let anyone imply that we are not free thinkers or that we are not closed-minded. Do not let the enslaved people rob us from the true definitions of "free thinking" and "open-mindedness". As for this evil libel against the Pope about selling gas to the Nazis, that is utter nonsense and is proposed by very evil or ignorant people who will have to stand before God at the Judgment to account for allowing Satan to speak through them. As Jesus said to St. Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan". Even good people can be used of Satan; and those with evil intent, God have mercy on them. Although it is hard to find any articles on the Internet that tell the truth amongst the 1000's of bigoted hate-filled articles and websites, I did find an article from Ann Rodgers-Melnick of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who is not Catholic, but did something unusual -- she did not take the lies about the Pope at face value, but checked it out. She also reviewed a bigoted, flawed, historically inaccurate, and patently irresponsible documentary on PBS castigating it for its distortions of the facts. After twenty years of research on the Pope she writes: I'm not Catholic, but for 20 years it has literally been my business to learn all I can about Pope John Paul II. The description of Wojtyla "acquiescing" to the Holocaust -- as The New York Times summed it up -- utterly fails to consider his circumstances or his understanding of priesthood. She continues: Wojtyla survived in Krakow only because he obtained a permit saying that his work -- first at a limestone quarry and later at a chemical factory -- was essential to the Nazi war effort. The quarry and factory were havens for young men in the resistance, and Wojtyla was among them. He did the anti-Nazi work for which he was most skilled: propaganda. He was pledged to UNIA, which ran 20,000 guerrillas, provided false papers to 50,000 Jews, and hid 2,500 Jewish children. UNIA also sponsored "cultural resistance," which involved upholding a vision of a democracy, human rights, faith and religious freedom. The facts are that Wojtyla did many things to help the Jews to the level of which he was able. Most of the "rescuers" of the Jews were wealthy or had a lot of resources. Wojtyla was poor and had no such resources, yet he did what he could. As Ann Rodgers-Melnick writes in conclusion of her article: To say that he did nothing is an attempt to rewrite history. And one of the enduring lessons of the Holocaust is that such revision is the root of great evil. To read the entire article: Click Here. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

John Paul 11 nazi collaborator?

Jim

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Question:

Dear Bros. Ignatius

I have a friend who is no child and a well read individual who is a secularist. In his subtle way he baits me with his take on the Catholic Church, as if he thinks he will convert me to be an "open minded thinker".

The most recent conversation, he had tried to convey that the Church is the wounded head of the serpent (i didn't look up the correct quote) that is mentioned in Revelations. After my, what I thought was a good defense, of the Church, he comes up with, "well, you know that John Paul was a good salesman and sold gas to the Nazis."! Well, I defended that too, I believe successfully to anyone with a balanced, logical mind.....

My friend seems to be the type of person that believes everything that is written, no matter how outlandish, especially if it's a conspiracy theory.

There is an article online that says that Karol Wojtyla worked as a salesman for a chemical company(ies) and sold cynide gas to the Nazis in occupied Poland.

Can you shed some light on this?

Thank you for answering --you have helped me quite a bit in the recent past!

God Bless!

jim

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+

Dear Jim:

Well to begin with it is YOU who have the open mind and your friend has the closed mind -- unless we define open mindedness as one being so open that their brains fall out.

True open-mindedness is a mind open to the Truth. God has created human beings with the inherent desire to pursue truth; we are ordered toward truth. Thus to be open-minded is to be open to the truth.

The so-called "free thinkers" are neither open-minded or free thinking. They are closed to the truth, which by definition means that they are not free thinkers since, as we know, the TRUTH will set us free. If "free thinkers" are closed to the truth, then they are not free but enslaved to their passions, biases, pride, or whatnot.

Do not let anyone imply that we are not free thinkers or that we are not closed-minded. Do not let the enslaved people rob us from the true definitions of "free thinking" and "open-mindedness".

As for this evil libel against the Pope about selling gas to the Nazis, that is utter nonsense and is proposed by very evil or ignorant people who will have to stand before God at the Judgment to account for allowing Satan to speak through them. As Jesus said to St. Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan". Even good people can be used of Satan; and those with evil intent, God have mercy on them.

Although it is hard to find any articles on the Internet that tell the truth amongst the 1000's of bigoted hate-filled articles and websites, I did find an article from Ann Rodgers-Melnick of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who is not Catholic, but did something unusual -- she did not take the lies about the Pope at face value, but checked it out.

She also reviewed a bigoted, flawed, historically inaccurate, and patently irresponsible documentary on PBS castigating it for its distortions of the facts.

After twenty years of research on the Pope she writes:

I'm not Catholic, but for 20 years it has literally been my business to learn all I can about Pope John Paul II. The description of Wojtyla "acquiescing" to the Holocaust -- as The New York Times summed it up -- utterly fails to consider his circumstances or his understanding of priesthood.

She continues:

Wojtyla survived in Krakow only because he obtained a permit saying that his work -- first at a limestone quarry and later at a chemical factory -- was essential to the Nazi war effort. The quarry and factory were havens for young men in the resistance, and Wojtyla was among them. He did the anti-Nazi work for which he was most skilled: propaganda.
He was pledged to UNIA, which ran 20,000 guerrillas, provided false papers to 50,000 Jews, and hid 2,500 Jewish children. UNIA also sponsored "cultural resistance," which involved upholding a vision of a democracy, human rights, faith and religious freedom.

The facts are that Wojtyla did many things to help the Jews to the level of which he was able. Most of the "rescuers" of the Jews were wealthy or had a lot of resources. Wojtyla was poor and had no such resources, yet he did what he could.

As Ann Rodgers-Melnick writes in conclusion of her article:

To say that he did nothing is an attempt to rewrite history. And one of the enduring lessons of the Holocaust is that such revision is the root of great evil.

To read the entire article: Click Here.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.