German newspaper mocks John Paul II, beatification process

CWNews ^ | Apr. 4, 2007

[lizol]

German newspaper mocks John Paul II, beatification process

Apr. 4, 2007 (CWNews.com) - A caustic article about the beatification process for Pope John Paul II (bio - news), published in the German newspaper Die Welt, has drawn a protest from the Polish ambassador to Germany.

Die Welt referred to the late Pontiff as "an unsympathetic old man," and included a series of tasteless jokes about the Pope and the cause for his beatification. The newspaper crudely suggested that the late Pope, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, might have won a medal at the Para-Olympics. It joked that he should have written books entitled, "Witches were never burned at the stake," and "The Enlightenment, or The Jewish Spy."

The newspaper also suggested that if Church officials are looking for a miracle that could be attributed to the intercession of the late Pope, they should consider the ability of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to escape assassination by CIA agents over the course of 50 years.

Marek Prawda, the Polish ambassador to Germany, has written a letter to the editors of Die Welt protesting the article.

[lizol]

Ping

[CheyennePress]

The person who declares that John Paul II was uncaring scarcely passes as human in my eyes. You have to be completely dead to human emotion to make that claim.

[lizol]

http://www.welt.de/satire/article789893/_Johannes_Paul_II._wirkte_noch_mehr_Wunder.html

If someone speaks German, and enjoys "humor" ...

[Rutles4Ever]

Some things are so ridiculous, they’re not worth being upset over. Germany is a self-parody.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

"Saint" is synonymous with "Christian." And no ordinary Christian living on this Earth today (or for almost the last nineteen centuries) should be performing miracles.

Arson suit donned.

[Pyro7480]

no ordinary Christian living on this Earth today

John Paul is deceased.

[boxer]

The Church teaches that only God can perform miracles. All any human can do is ask for the favor. When we say that we pray to one of the saints in heaven, we mean that we are asking them to plead our case with God. We know that they can’t actually perform miracles on their own.

[henkster]

I'm not a Catholic but I can recognize a great man in history, and John Paul II was one of them. I have the most profound respect for him and his memory. This kind of parody, sure, I'm glad Western society offers the freedom of expression to publish it. Doesn't mean I'd support or agree with it; I actually enjoy the freedom to express my opinion that it's garbage. I wonder if "Die Welt" has the same declining readership as it's American counterparts. Any of our German colleagues have some insight here?

[Coleus]

.

[AliVeritas]

John 14:12

[si tacuissem]

If someone speaks German, and enjoys "humor" ...

The satire is rubbish - but it got mistranslated: not John Paul II, but a fictive pater Aceto Balsamico is called a unsympathischer Greis, i.e., a disagreeable old man.

[Quick or Dead]

The Germans might find a man as great as John Paul II humorous, but with the willingness of Germany to hand themselves over to tyrants, the latest of which seems to be Islam. With the vast numbers of Muslim immigrants and the introduction of Sharia into German law, Germany once again feeds themselves one limb at a time into the jaws of the despots.

Germany is a joke.

[wolf78]

What is really preposterous is the beatification process. Catholicism is more of a hindu sect and has very little to do with Christianity.

[Pyro7480]

Catholicism is more of a hindu sect and has very little to do with Christianity.

I'm Catholic, and I only adore the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I don't worship the false gods of the pagans. Never have, and God-willing, I never will.

[NYer]

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[rbmillerjr]

“Catholicism is more of a hindu sect and has very little to do with Christianity.”

...and Germans are paganistic followers of homosexual corporals and bear little resemblance to evolved humans.

[RobbyS]

I have never been able to understand the Protestant refusal to honor the dead. Christians have been doing this since the beginning, and Revelation makes it quite clear that the martyrs are quite concerned about justice and the fate of the church on earth. But when one is transfixed by a dogma and is even unaware that it is dogma, then there is little point in arguing. Man, you are blind.

[TaxachusettsMan]

I once taught at a college with a monk who spent several summers in Germany doing his graduate work . . .

At some point every summer, during informal socializing at a local pub/bar, a number of people in the predominantly German academic community would begin berating the United States for one thing or another.

At which point, my colleague said, he would simply start sniffing - very obviously sniffing the air - and when he had everyone’s attention, ask:

“Could you smell the flesh of Jews burning from this location or were the death camps sponsored by your country too far away from here?”

End of amusement.

It’s the same with Germans criticizing the late Holy Father.

Or anything or anyone else, for that matter.

They’re utterly irrelevant now. And before they were irrelevant, they were horrific.

This latest stuff is just the pointless trash-talk of an utterly useless nation.

[Thorin]

>>>>Catholicism is more of a hindu sect and has very little to do with Christianity.

Congratulations! Your post has been recognized as the stupidest post ever.