I can hear the Church Lady now...

Hmmmm. I came across some information today which should be interesting to those who are both Catholic and supporters of the current Administration. (My wife has, at times in her life, been both, which makes it an interesting pairing for me).

I have done a lot of research on this to try to determine the veracity of the story. Ultimately, I have to rely on the source, and so to give you some independent ability to check yourself, here is a brief bio of the author.

According to the piece (written about a year ago), Pope John Paul II feared that George W. Bush was the anti-christ of the Book of Revalations... and he was concerned that he wasn't younger and stronger to confront the possibility.

Whether Bush actually is said anti-christ or not, or even whether the late Pope ultimately came to believe or refute his suspicions, I think it's telling that the actions of this President are such that it was even in question.

I'll finish off by quoting the piece itself:

WASHINGTON DC -- According to freelance journalist Wayne Madsen, "George W Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs and his constant references to 'evil doers,' in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations--the anti-Christ."

Madsen, a Washington-based writer and columnist, who often writes for Counterpunch, says that people close to the pope claim that amid these concerns, the pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations. John Paul II has always believed the world was on the precipice of the final confrontation between Good and Evil as foretold in the New Testament.

Before he became pope, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla said, "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel."

The pope worked tirelessly to convince leaders of nations on the UN Security Council to oppose Bush's war resolution on Iraq. Vatican sources claim they had not seen the pope more animated and determined since he fell ill to Parkinson's Disease. In the end, the pope did convince the leaders of Mexico, Chile, Cameroon and Guinea to oppose the U.S. resolution.

Madsen contends that "Bush is a dangerous right-wing ideologue who couples his political fanaticism with a neo-Christian blood cult."

Liam.