Popes John Paul II and John XXIII Canonized by Catholic Church

Pope John Paul II and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa Meet in Poland in 1981.

Two 20th Century popes were Canonized by the Vatican in a ceremony this Sunday that was presided over Pope Francis and had Pope Emeritus Benedict in attendance. Born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in northern Italy in 1881, Pope John XXIII served as pontiff from 1958 until his death in 1963 and was a former cardinal of Venice, reportedly saving thousands of Jews from the nazis and their allies during WWII by issuing baptismal certificates.

One of Pope John XXIII's lasting legacies as pontiff was the opening up of Mass in languages besides Latin. He also strived for more openness between the faithful and the Vatican and establishing better relations with the Jewish community and other Christian denominations.

Pope John Paul II served as the Catholic Church's patriarch much more recently [for most of my life, basically- NANESB!] and was also canonized this weekend. Born Karol Józef Wojtyła in the southern Polish town of Wadowice in 1920, the future papal candidate was attending college in Krakow when the Germans invaded and occupied Poland in 1939. While attending an underground seminary in Krakow, Karol was struck and injured by a German truck, but by early 1945 he and other students moved back in to the remains of their seminary. By 1958, Wojtyła was selected to be the auxiliary Bishop of Krakow.

Within 20 years, Karol Józef Wojtyła would be elected by a papal conclave to become Pope John Paul II. Well versed in many languages, he would become the most well-travelled Pope in the church's history, visiting more than 120 nations and becoming the first pope to visit the White House in 1979.

Just months after being named Pope, John Paul II returned to his native Poland. Officials in Poland's communist controlled government were reportedly anticipating that the Papal visit might stoke an uprising and were preparing to blame him for any insurrection that would be put down. However, Pope John Paul II's visit instead stoked the fires of the burgeoning pro-democracy Solidarity movement- which engaged in a campaign of civil disobedience and anti-government protests that eventually forced Poland's communist government into negotiations with Solidarity.

However, Poland's Soviet benefactors (rightly) feared a ripple effect throughout eastern Europe and in 1981, while on his way to St Peter's Square Pope John Paul II was shot four times with a 9mm handgun fired by a Turkish convict thought to be working on behalf of Bulgaria's intelligence agency and the Kremlin [documents released from East Germany's Stasi and Poland's SB since the end of the Cold War seem to confirm the Kremlin sanctioning the attempt on the Pope's life- NANESB!].

This would not be the last time John Paul II was in the crosshairs of a murderous ideology- in January 1995, the Pope was scheduled to address a huge crowd in the Philippines for World Youth Day celebrations. Less than a week before the pontiff's scheduled arrival, firefighters in Manila were called to an apartment fire after neighbors reported smoke and a suspicious odor. Although the two middle-eastern occupants of the apartment said they had extinguished the fire, a suspicious policewoman obtained a search warrant and bomb-making components were discovered inside along with a laptop, crucifixes, rosaries and the Pope's schedule for the upcoming World Youth Day events. Local police in Manila had stumbled upon a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II using a suicide bomber dressed as a priest- but even more alarming was that the Pope's assassination would be a distraction from an even more ambitious plot to simultaneously target nearly a dozen trans-Pacific commercial flights. About a month earlier, then-Al Qaeda bomb-maker Ramsi Yousef had managed to successfully smuggle a smaller bomb on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Japan. Yousef got off the plane when it make a scheduled stop in Cebu and the bomb detonated while the plane was flying over Okinawa. Although a Japanese businessman was killed by the blast, the pilots were able to successfully land the damaged aircraft at Naha airport in Okinawa.

Despite the complex terror plot that was supposed to be initiated with his assassination, Pope John Paul II's appearance at Youth Day not only went off without incident, but the closing mass at Luneta Park in the Manila drew 5 million- the largest Papal gathering in the Church's history. This also marked the last time John Paul II visited the Philippines; although he was scheduled to travel there in 2003, his deteriorating health prevented him from making the trip.

In 2000, John Paul II became the first Pope to visit the nation of Israel during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and in 2001 he met with Archbishop Christodoulos, the then-head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens. The two recited the Lord's Prayer on a spot where Saint Paul preached to Athens' early Christians, breaking an Orthodox taboo against praying with Catholics that had been in place since the Great Schism.

John Paul II's last trip out of Italy was to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loudres in France in 2004. In April 2005, Pope John Paul II passed away at the age of 84 from heart failure and circulatory collapse

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Passes Away

Baroness Margaret Thatcher- the UK's first female prime minister and staunch US ally towards the end of the Cold War- has passed away from a stroke at the age of 87 on Monday. Thatcher, along with former President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Polish labor leader Lech Walesa, was one of the most prominent figures in opposing the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Thatcher got her start in politics as a Member of Parliament representing a district in Middlesex County and was appointed Secretary of Education and Science under Prime Minister David Heath in 1970. After the Conservative Party lost the 1974 general election, Thatcher became leader of the opposition and when the Labour party was ousted in a 1979 general election, Thatcher became Great Britain's first female Prime Minister.

In her first term, Thatcher sought to curb the expansion of the welfare state as well as the influence of labor unions in Britain's political affairs. Even before serving as Prime Minister, Thatcher had publicly made a number of anti-communist and anti-Soviet statements that led one Red Army publication to dub her "The Iron Lady"- a moniker she eventually embraced.

Much of her first term was also marked by strikes, high unemployment, inflation and an approval rating around 22%. Sensing weakness and a much-needed diversion from their own domestic problems, the ruling Argentine military junta annexed the lightly-defended Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic in April of 1982. However, the Argentine junta seriously underestimated Thatcher's resolve and a Britsh task force was immediately dispatched to the South Atlantic. While the USA was initially reluctant to take sides in what an inevitable 'hot' war between two countries considered allies, the United States eventually sided with Britain and provided the Ministry of defense sattelite imagery of Argentine troop movements from the mainland to the Falklands.

After a series of air and sea engagements, the SAS and Royal Army landed on the islands in May and engaged the occupying Argentine soldiers. By June 14th, the last of the Argentine forces had surrendered and the British had re-taken the capital of Stanley. Within a year, the military junta in Buenos Aires was forced to call a general election due to eroding support from their own soldiers and a civilian government was elected in October of 1983.

Thatcher's popularity increased after the Falklands War, demonstrating that Great Britain could still successfully defend her citizens and territory abroad- no matter how far-flung. Thatcher and the Conservative party would enjoy a sweeping victory during the 1983 elections.

In October 1984, Prime Minister Thatcher survived an IRA assassination attempt when a bomb was detonated in an adjoining suite at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. Although Thatcher survived, the blast killed five and injured 31. After vising the wounded at the hospital, which included members of Parliament, Thatcher would go on to address the Conservative party conference that morning as scheduled.

Thatcher and then-President Ronald Reagan had much in common and worked closely together throughout the 1980s. The Royal Navy nearly tripled their nuclear capability with the purchase of the Trident nuclear missile system, and in 1986 Thatcher allowed the US Air Force to use RAF bases to launch retaliatory airstrikes against Libya after the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin killed two US servicemen and a civilian and wounded more than 200 others. Intelligence agencies reportedly intercepted a telex from Libya to their East Berlin embassy congratulating them on a "job well done" immediately after the bombing.

Despite profound ideological differences, Thatcher and then Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev maintained a cordial personal relationship with each understanding that the other was firmly committed to their respective country's political system and could not be persuaded otherwise. The reform-minded Gorbachev credited Thatcher with bringing about change and the eventual end of the Cold War.

"We gradually developed personal relations that became increasingly friendly," he said. "In the end, we were able to achieve mutual understanding, and this contributed to a change in the atmosphere between our country and the West and to the end of the Cold War."

"Margaret Thatcher was a great politician and an exceptional person. She will be remain in our memories and in history," said Gorbachev, whose resignation as president December 1991 marked the end of the Soviet Union.

After winning three consecutive terms, Thatcher was unable to withstand an internal party challenge and resigned as the Conservative party leader in 1990, although the Conservative party would go on to win the 1992 general election with John Major as Prime Minister.

Thatcher would become the longest-serving British prime minister and paradoxically was at times more popular in the USA than she was in the UK. The strong leadership and rejection of socialism make Thatcher popular with American conservatives to this day.

Out of office, Thatcher became an author and public speaker. In 2003, her husband Sir Dennis Thatcher, passed away and Thatcher herself suffered from a series of small strokes that limited her public speaking appearances.

Despite her declining health, Thatcher flew 'across the pond' for President Reagan's 2004 State funeral in which she delivered a videotaped eulogy for her close friend and again in 2006 for a memorial service in Washington DC marking the 5th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

In accordance with Baroness Thatcher's wishes, the former Prime Minister will not recieve a state funeral but will recieve a service at St Paul's cathedral in London with full military honors.

Czech Dissident, Playwright and Former President Vaclav Havel Laid to Rest

Former anti-communist dissident and Czech President Vaclav Havel passed away this week at the age of 75. Active in writing and theater, Havel was with Radio Free Czechoslovakia for the reforms of the 1968 Prague Spring and the subsequent invasion from the Soviet Union. After the Soviet quelled the Prague spring, Havel was banned from theater- although his works were clandestinely distributed throughout Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s.

The 1989 Velvet Revolution saw the collapse of Czechoslovakia's one-party communist rule after days of mass demonstrations and a general strike by Czech and Slovak citizens. Within days, the Communist Part of Czechoslovakia announced that it would dissolve and open up the borders with West Germany and Austria. Elections were called for within a month, and Havel was voted in as president of Czechoslovakia while Alexander Dubček (the secretary of the Communist party who attempted reforms during the Prague Spring) was voted in as the nation's first post-communist speaker of Parliament.

One of Havel's first acts as President was to issue a general amnesty to political prisoners that had been detained by the Communist regime. When Slovakia split apart from the Czech Republic, Havel resigned the presidency claiming he did not want to preside over the nation's breakup (which was pretty amicable compared to elsewhere in Eastern Europe).

However, he stood for election again in early 1993 and won easily, remaining in office for another decade.


Havel passed away on December 18th. His successor- current Czech president Vaclav Klaus announced that a state funeral mass for Havel would be held at St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague on Thursday.

Among the honors Havel received include the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of Canada.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Febuary 20-22; Woe Canada! Border Wars Redux as USA Upsets Canada; Ohno! Apolo-ing Performance One For Record Books

First of all, let me just say that aside from ads portraying Air America rejects Ed 'Vote-fraud-is-OK-if-it's-for-Martha-Coakley' Schultz and Keith Olberman's gangly, awkward looking stepson Rachel Maddow as some sort of unbiased 'we're here to explain it all for the little guy' moderates, NBC SUCKS in that they couldn't be bothered to show Sunday's highly anticipated USA/Canada men's hockey game on a channel in Hi-Def. Instead, we're stuck with MSNBC. But then again, I should be careful what I ask for as I'm referring to a once every 4 years event, and seeing the batshit insane ooze out of every pore of Keith Olberman's being in Hi-Def during the prolonged defecation on Edward R Murrow's grave that is his MSNBC talk show simply is not worth the price.

(U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

With that said, happy Miracle on Ice anniversary, everybody! While this humble blogger was technically alive for Team USA's victory against the heavily favored Soviets in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, toddlers are very easily distracted and not everything registers right away. On Febuary 22nd, 1980, the amateur and collegiate players that made up team USA stunned the Soviet men's hockey team by beating them 4-3. Contrary to popular opinion, that actually was not the gold-medal game- the match with the USSR was to see who would take on Finland in the Gold medal game. Team USA would go on to defeat Finland to win the gold; their unlikely run dramatized in the 2004 film Miracle starring Kurt Russel as coach Herb Brooks. Rumor has it that the film was also shown in the Red Sox locker room when they were down 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS.

(30 years later- USA! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

Now, Sunday Nights Men's Hockey contest was no Miracle on Ice, but Team USA found themselves in the role of underdogs nonetheless. Just 41 seconds into the first period, USA's Brian Rafalski quieted the partisan crowd at Vancouver's Canada Hockey Place with a slapshot that deflected off Sidney Crosby's stick and past Martin Brodeur for the early 1-0 lead over Canada. Eric Staal deadlocked the game at 1-1 at the 8:53 mark of the first, but Rafalski would notch his second goal of the contest a mere 22 seconds later, sending the puck under Brodeur's left pad. The game would be knotted again on a Dany Heatley tally 3 and a half minutes into the second period, and would remain a 2-2 tie until USA's Chris Drury sent the puck past Brodeur after a mad scramble in front of the net late in the second.

In the 3rd period, Jamie Langenbrunner tallied the USA's only power-play goal of the game to make it a 4-2 USA lead. Although down, Team Canada certainly wasn't out and Sidney Crosby managed to solve Ryan Miller on a Canadian power-play at the 16:51 mark to make it a one-goal game. The crowd seemed to factor back in the final 3 minutes of regulation, including when Canada pulled Brodeur for the extra attacker in the final 57 seconds. However, USA's Ryan Kesler won the footrace with Canada's Corey Perry and got the empty-netter to seal the deal and make it a 5-3 USA win.

Now, as anxious as I was when Ryan Miller would make a spectacular save only to leave a whole bunch of big, juicy-looking rebounds for Canada to pounce on, he faced a total of 45 (stopping 42) while Brodeur only faced 23 shots on goal. So it didn't just seem like Miller was facing twice as many shots as Brodeur was....that actually was the case. Personally, ever since I saw the Canada/Switzerland game, I did expect Team USA to keep it close and put their odds at beating Canada head-to-head at 50/50.

Reports are circulating that Roberto Luongo will replace Brodeur in net for Tuesday's game against Germany while Team USA awaits the winner of the Switzerland/Belarus game.

Women's Hockey: Not too surprising, given the margin of victory over their opponents, but the USA and Canadian women's team will face off for the gold medal game, the American women punching their ticket with a 9-1 win over Sweden and the Canadians shutting out Finland 5-0. The gold medal match is set for Thursday at 3:30 PM Pacific time.

Short Track Speed Skating: Although the South Koreans claimed 4 of the 6 short-track medals awarded Saturday, Apolo Anton Ohno won silver last weekend and bronze in the 1500M event Saturday to make him the most decorated US Winter Olympian with seven medals. The feat surpasses Bonnie Blair, who won five gold medals and a bronze from the 1988 Calgary games to 1994 in women's long-track speed skating.

Women's Alpine Skiing: Well, downhill favorite Lindsey Vonn has another medal to her name, although she had to settle for the bronze in the Super-G competition. Vonn admitted to being a tad complacent and eased up after making her way through the more difficult portions of the course. Austria's Andrea Fischbaker secured the gold while Slovenia's Tina Maze won silver Saturday. Not the most earth-shattering developments out of Vancouver, but hey! Another gratuitous opportunity to put up some Vonn-centric ocular sweetness!

NBA: Well, I kinda got the feeling if Denver could do it to King James and the Cavs on the road, I shouldn't be too disappointed if Boston wasn't able to come away from Denver with the W.

After beating the Portland Trailblazers pretty convincingly Friday night, the C's headed into Denver to take on the Nuggets in a matinee game Sunday afternoon. Ray Allen had 25 points while KG, Rondo and Marquis Daniels each had 15. The Nuggets had doubled up Boston early, getting out in front by as much as 20, but Boston cut the Denver lead to 7 at halftime and managed to pull even at 66-66 in the third before dropping off the face of the earth to lose 114-105 Sunday afternoon.

The Celtics next game will be at the TD Banknorth Garden Tuesday against the NY Knicks. Paul Pierce is doubtful for the game with a bad thumb.

NFL:Not the least-bit New England-centric, but the San Diego Chargers have released RB LaDanian Thomlinson this week. In so doing, the Chargers avoid paying him a $2 million roster bonus on top of his 2010 salary of $5 million.