The campaign to have Pope John Paul II declared a Saint began in earnest today, with the claim by his longtime secretary that he once cured a man with terminal cancer, causing his tumor to disappear within hours.
Except that we're not talking about just any man. We're talking about a Jewish man, a millionnaire, who had three wishes before he died, one of which was to meet the Pope. When the meeting took place, he did not disclose his Jewishness, and actually took communion.
If he really exists, I'd like to know the name of this man, who is anonymous, because as the story currently stands -- "Pope heals Jew who takes communion" -- it stinks of anti-Semitism and of a crude attempt to show, through a story, the Church's superiority and power over Judaism.
UPDATE: SIW thinks the man in question is Marc Rich -- probably a good guess -- and thinks I'm alarmist. To clarify, I don't fault the Pope, but I do think it's an odd choice of story to begin this unofficial campaign with.
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