[dangus]

Your tone seems sarcastic (I can't condone phrasing such as "JPII's minions," for instance), but yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

The Vatican State Department deliberately misconstrued statements out of Iraq, and distorted even the Pope's own words. If you read the Pope's statements about war in Iraq as the war was approaching, the first thing he said was that was was evil and the BEST WAY to prevent war was to end abortion. The State Department twisted that into sounding like a call for political activism against the politicians who supported the war, who in nearly every case represented their nations' moral conservatives. (Tony Blair being an obvious exception.)

[sinkspur]

The Pope should have kept his mouth shut, just as he did when we went into Afghanistan.

If he had, perhaps Hussein would have folded. Instead, the Pope's words allowed Hussein, and Chirac, and Schroeder, to hide behind his skirts.

[sinkspur]

I can't condone phrasing such as "JPII's minions," for instance

Why? That's what they are, and they were off to the races after JPII condemned the war.