[dfwgator]

I did not expect Jaruzelski's funeral to be a Catholic mass. I sincerely hope his return to the faith of this childhood was sincere, and not a cynical ploy.

[dfwgator]

Ping

[wastedyears]

He’s Polish, I doubt he’s a Pelosi-style Catholic.

[henkster]

I don’t think he had anything to gain by faking it. I’d like to believe it was sincere.

[House Atreides]

Walesa is a good Catholic, he believes in forgiveness.

[x_plus_one]

General Wojciech Jaruzelskiwas the man who stopped Russia from sending troops to retake poland. He stalled them off long enough. He is held to blame for much but in the end he was the one that kept the Russians from sending in tanks like they did in Prague in 1968. He was a party man but a christian first and foremost. In a time of close scrutiny he held his beliefs close to his heart and kept quiet. He rose in the party due to his discretion. He used his power to help Poland - remember the weeks where he was ordered to retake Gdansk and did not do so. He was the only one in Poland who could stall the Russians. He was ordered by Moscow to do this and that and stalled them off. He is a quiet hero. He does not deserve the blame accorded him.

[iowamark]

Jaruzelski was an atheist but a clergyman at the cathedral said that, 13 days before his death, he had asked a Catholic priest to administer the last rites.

[elpadre]

Kneeling is the proper position for prayer for Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

[Defiant]

I always thought it possible that the interaction between Walesa and Jaruzelski was a form of theater for the consumption of the Soviets. Jaruzelski had to play his role to avoid an invasion and Walesa was organizing the country to be in position to be free when the opportunity presented itself. Without Jaruzelski, if a reformer or moderate had been put in place in 1984, there could well have been an invasion, and things might have turned out differently in Europe. When the Soviet threat went away, Jaruzelski's job was done. The people could take over.

Whether the general's intent was that, we can never know. But I think he gave Walesa and his movement the maximum amount of slack that he could without inviting invasion. And that worked out for everyone.