[nickcarraway]

Wait, did Pope John Paul II visit ``polical prisoners'' in the U.S. and attack the U.S.? I don't remember that? I also don't remember the Pope proudly getting an award from Castro.

Where did the Pope ``condemn the U.S. and Britain.'' Please provide the citation.

The Church's appeasement of dictatorships in the last 20 years has been one of JP II's few negatives. It's been a big negative.

The biggest totalitarian regime of his time was the Soviet Union. Did he appease the U.S.S.R.?

[sinkspur]

Where did the Pope ``condemn the U.S. and Britain.''

Surely you jest. You don't remember the continual references, in papal audiences, to the "injustice of a war against the people of Iraq"? All this, while Saddam was feeding Iraqis into industrial shredders.

The Pope knows he can beat up on the US and there'll be no repercussions.

The problem is, nobody takes him seriously on issues of foreign policy as a result of these bombastic statements.