"A Pope and A President" (or "The Russians Did It!")

Above, President Reagan and Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.

As I am writing this, I am about 4/5 through the book, A Pope and A President, John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century by Paul Kengor (ISI Books).

Normally, I will finish a book before writing a review of it. In this case, I feel that I have read enough to review it now.

This is one fascinating story on how the collaboration between Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan, two men who had much in common (including assassination attempts of each within weeks of each other in 1981), brought down the Iron Curtain in Europe and, not too long after, in the Soviet Union. All part of the "DP" (Divine Plan).

Upon Pope John Paul II's elevation as the Holy See, Reagan saw that he would have an ally in his efforts to end the Soviet grip on Eastern Europe. The rise of the Solidarity labor union in Poland along with the Polish Pope, told Reagan that Poland was the "key" to ending communism in Eastern Europe.

The books tells of the history of clashes between the Roman Catholic Church and communist rulers from the time of the Bolshevik's rise in Czarist Russia through the Cold War. Coinciding with the rise of communism in Russia, the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima by three children had a big effect on the Pope and the President, especially the three secrets of Fatima. The assassination attempt on the Pope took place on May 13, 1981, an anniversary date of the May 13, 1917 appearance of the Virgin Mary's apparition in Portugal.

The shooting of Pope John Paul II, it is revealed, wasn't just from a lone assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, a professional Turkish assassin. The book makes a strong case that the Bulgarian secret service, under the direction of the Soviet GRU (Soviet military intelligence) and not the Soviet KGB, were behind the assassination attempt on the Pope. The bottom line: The Russians Did It!  (This is also the title of Chapter 29.)

Kengor's writing style is very easy to follow as he writes conversationally, as if he is giving a lecture in a classroom setting. This is truly a great read.

This is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it. My only disappointment with the book is that it contains no photographs to also enjoy.

My grade: A+.

Catholics Sue Obama Administration Over ObamaCare

The Chicago thugs who occupy the White House and the machinery of the Democratic Party thought they could make the Catholic Church capitulate to them over ObamaCare.  They thought wrong.

CNSNews.com is reporting:

The Archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., headed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the University of Notre Dame, and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country announced on Monday that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. 

The dioceses and organizations, in different combinations, are filing 12 different lawsuits filed in federal courts around the country. 

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has established a special website--preservereligiousfreedom.org--to explain its lawsuit and present news and developments concerning it. 

"This lawsuit is about an unprecedented attack by the federal government on one of America's most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one's religion without government interference," the archdiocese posted on their website. "It is not about whether people have access to certain services; it is about whether the government may force religious institutions and individuals to facilitate and fund services which violate their religious beliefs."

The only thing bullies respect is when the victim(s) fight back.  A mighty big one is fighting back. 

Two Centuries of Religious Freedom Rolled Back

The current storm over contraceptives and religious organizations have muddied the waters so much that the average person would have difficulty figuring out what the fuss is all about.

Thankfully, The Heritage Foundation has it layed out in plain English so that even a moron should be able to comprehend what's at stake.

They wrote, in part:

Since 1791, when the Bill of Rights was formally adopted, America has enjoyed the legal protection of religious freedom, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Today, 221 years later, centuries of progress in the protection of religious and other liberties is at risk of being rolled back in one fell swoop. The culprit: Obamacare.

As we all know, President Obama's health care law will mandate that religious hospitals, charities, and schools abandon the tenets of their faiths and provide their employees insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization. This anti-conscience mandate is but the latest assault on liberty Obamacare has ushered in. Its shock waves are reverberating across the country, waking Americans to the fact that our first freedom -- religious liberty -- will be the first to fall now that the federal government has unfettered control over the country's health care system.

Let's make this clear one more time: The issue isn't about birth control -- it's about the federal government's power to force a religious institution like Georgetown University to bend to its will and take actions that are fundamentally at odds with its core values. Religious groups are faced with an untenable choice: violate conscience or drop coverage and face penalties for doing so. That's why so many Americans -- men and women alike -- are speaking out against the anti-conscience mandate and its fine on faith.

To read the full article, go here.

Catholic Church Declares War On Obamacare

The U.S. Roman Catholic Church has declared war on Obamacare.

From Heritage.org:

It is a rare moment indeed when faith denominations of all stripes unite together in common cause, and it is rarer still when that cause is a political one, with a sole piece of legislation as its principal target. But when that law eviscerates the very foundation of religious liberty in America as protected under the First Amendment, it should not be surprising that Catholics and Jews, charismatic evangelical Christians, and mainline Lutherans alike find common cause in defense of their liberties.

Such is the case with the firestorm of opposition to Obamacare and the Obama Administration’s attack on religious liberty. Under a new Obamacare mandate issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the White House is mandating that many religious employers, with the exception of churches, provide health care coverage for contraception — including abortion-inducing drugs — thereby trampling upon their constitutionally guaranteed free exercise of religion. And it is this mandate that has caused a vehement response in churches and synagogues across the country.

Yesterday, the head of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, warned that the nation’s 70 million Catholics are ready to go to war with the Administration’s dictates, saying “Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church. This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions, and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets.”

Finally, more people are waking up to the fact that Obamacare is not in the best interests of the American people and that it tramples on their constitutional rights.

To read more, go here.