The Pope
Not so hot on the Balkans.
Balkans general: Another Side of the Pope: John Paul II's Balkan Legacy
Sickening.
Balkans general: Another Side of the Pope: John Paul II's Balkan Legacy
The Vatican Expedites Nazi Escape
Following World War II, the Vatican helped many of the Croatian Ustasha war criminals to escape through underground routes and channels. Croatian Roman Catholic priest Krunoslav Draganovic organized the “ratline” that allowed Ustasha political leaders such as such as Ante Pavelic and Anrija Artukovic to flee. The Pope has never acknowledged the role the Vatican played in allowing these Nazi collaborators to escape from the Balkans to Argentina and other countries in South America, despite the fact that the Vatican was later sued for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold and other items which the Ustasha regime had seized from murdered Orthodox Serbs, Jews, and Roma during World War II. The money was kept in the Swiss National Bank. The Vatican allegedly used the Ustasha gold to finance and organize the rat lines that allowed top Ustasha leaders to escape. But the Pope never apologized for the role that Roman Catholic priests such as Alojize Stepinac and the Croatian Roman Catholic Church in general played in the Ustasha genocide committed in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina during World War II.
By beatifying a convicted war criminal, Pope John Paul II showed his utter contempt for the Serbian people. He exacerbated the animosity and conflict between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. He did not want reconciliation, but conquest. Pope John Paul did nothing to reconcile the Catholic and Orthodox communities in the Balkans. Indeed, he has made matters much worse. His legacy will be one of failure and deliberately missed opportunities.
The Pope’s Silence on Continuing Genocide Against Christians in Kosovo
Pope John Paul II remained silent about the continuing and ongoing genocide against Orthodox Serbian civilians in Kosovo-Metohija and in Krajina. Artemije, the Serbian Orthodox bishop of Raska and Prizren, lamented “…the inexplicable silence of Christian and democratic Europe in the face of such grave crimes committed against a Christian and European people.” In a December 16, 2003 L’Espresso article in Italy, Artemije accused the Vatican of having been “amply implicated in the events” in Kosovo. Unlike in the later case of Iraq, the Pope did not condemn the illegal and criminal NATO bombing and occupation of Yugoslavia and Kosovo-Metohija in 1999. After a meeting with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, he reportedly told Draskovic that all the destroyed church buildings and houses belonging to Serbs in Kosovo must be rebuilt. But that was about the extent of his concern or interest in Kosovo. He also promised Draskovic that he would read the book on the destruction of Orthodox churches in Kosovo, Crucified Kosovo.
Despite speaking loudly and clearly in support of Christians the world over, Pope John Paul II stood silently by while over 150 Serbian Orthodox Churches and cathedrals were looted, burned, demolished, desecrated, and destroyed by Albanian Muslims in ethnic attacks meant to eradicate the centuries-old presence of Serbian Christianity in Kosovo-Metohija. His silence was glaring. Where was the condemnation of the March 2004 “pogrom” or “Kristallnacht” in Kosovo, where over 35 Serbian Orthodox churches were destroyed and demolished and Serbian Christians were brutally murdered?
Sickening.
