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On 11 Jun 2005 23:01:39 -0700, wrote:

Hey Chuck, how come no complaining about the anti-Catholic joke a few
lines
earlier?

Here, I wouldn't want you to miss it.

Probably already made the rounds by now but here goes:

Cardinal Ratzinger was not the Cardinals' first choice for Pope. That was,
interestingly, Cardinal Hans Grapje. Grapje was raised in a Catholic
school in The Hague and, as a young man, aspired to become a priest.
However, he was drafted into the Army during WWII and spent two years
co-piloting bombers until his aircraft was shot down in 1943 and he
lost his left arm. Captain Grapje spent the rest of the war as a
chaplain, giving spiritual aid to soldiers, both Allied and enemy.

After the war, he became a priest, serving as a missionary in Africa,
piloting his own plane (in spite of his handicap) to villages across
the continent. In 1997, Father Grapje was serving in Zimbabwe when an
explosion in a silver mine caused a cave-in. Archbishop Grapje went
down into the mine to administer last rights to those too severely
injured to move. Another shaft collapsed, and he was buried for three
days, suffering multiple injuries, including the loss of his right
eye. The high silver content in the mine's air gave him purpura, a
life-long condition characterized by purplish skin blotches.

Although Cardinal Grapje devoted his life to the service of God as a
scholar, mentor, and holy man, church leaders felt that he should
never ascend to the Papacy. They felt that the Church would never
accept a one-eyed, one-armed, flying purple Papal leader

--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

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