Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

A Life with Karol: My Forty Year Friendship with the Man Who Would Become Pope, by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. 2008. Random House, New York

Pope John Paul II in the Context of Travels and World Events. Multiple Insights

Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz excerpts several main features of the life and ministry of Pope John Paul II. He also provides eyewitness accounts of such things as the shooting of the Pope in 1981 and the death of this Pope in 2005.

FREEMASONRY

This book centers on the travels of Pope John Paul II (JPII). Dziwisz attributed the anti-clericalism of Mexico to the fact that many Mexican political and business officials are Masons. (p. 74). For more on the anti-Catholic aspects of Freemasonry, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/freemasonry-anti-christianity-shown-dillon/

JEWS NOT SCAPEGOATS

Much has been said about how Poland’s Communist government had blamed Jews for Poland’s problems, leading to many of them leaving Poland in 1968, and notwithstanding the fact that Gomulka’s wife was Jewish. (pp. 31-32). What is often forgotten is the fact that the Communist government also frequently blamed the Church for Poland’s problems; even accusing it of lack of patriotism when it was forgiving the Germans. (pp. 22-23). This refers to the 1965 Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops.

A SEAMLESS GARMENT ON TOTALITARIANISM

At times, Pope John Paul II had been accused of being soft on non-Communist authoritarian governments. This is untrue, as proved by the Papal visit with Augusto Pinochet of Chile. The Pope urged this leader to return power to the civil authorities, and later met with Chilean dissident politicians. (p. 104).

CULTURAL MARXISM ON THE WARPATH

After the fall of Communism, Pope John Paul II identified secularism as the main danger to Christianity and Poland. (pp. 200-205). Now, 15 years after his death, his warning is timelier than ever!