I'd Like to Buy a Vowel

 I had to read this several times. I'm still not sure I understand it.


The Croatian government has reacted strongly to Serbia’s formal diplomatic protest of a Croatian court’s decision to annul the 1946 conviction of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac.
 The Croatian cardinal was convicted of treason in a Communist show trial.
 

Blessed Alojzije Stepinac

Miro Kovac, Croatia’s minster of foreign and European affairs, described the diplomatic protest as “a cheap attempt at destabilizing Croatia at a sensitive time.”
“That's a recipe from the 1990s,” he continued. “The vocabulary unfortunately recalls the time of Slobodan Milosevic and the Greater Serbia aggression.”
Kovac added, “I have to say that these assessments regarding Cardinal Stepinac are fictitious and unacceptable. This is meddling in Croatia’s interior affairs.”
The Serbian foreign minister later said that Croatia’s formal written response was so insulting that Serbia’s ambassador in Croatia refused to accept it.

Pope John Paul II elevated Bishop Stepinac to Blessed, so I am guessing it's legit. Stepinac was strongly anti-communist and particualrly harsh with the Freemasons, so hurray for him. I tried to understand all the ins and outs of what was going on leading up to his trial and all I took away from it was this: Yugoslavia was bad idea.

I'm Starting to Distrust Priests Named Federico

  The Hammer and Sickle...stands for "a symbol of dialogue and commitment to freedom" and is "not about a specific ideology".


The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Thursday the pope had no idea that Espinal had designed the crucifix and was surprised to receive it — a reaction clearly visible in the footage of the encounter. Some reports suggested the pope told Morales "This isn't good;" one of Francis' friends sent a tweet quoting him as saying such. But Lombardi said it wasn't known what the pope had said.

 
Lombardi said Espinal had designed the crucifix as a symbol of dialogue and commitment to freedom and progress for Bolivia, not with any specific ideology in mind. Lombardi said he personally wasn't offended by it.
"You can dispute the significance and use of the symbol now, but the origin is from Espinal and the sense of it was about an open dialogue, not about a specific ideology," Lombardi said.

Stupidity on stilts.
 Mass killings occurred under some Communist regimes during the twentieth century with an estimated death toll numbering between 85 and 100 million
 

THE SEVEN MILLION UKRAINIANS STARVED TO DEATH BY COMMUNISTS WERE UNAVAILABLE FOR DIALOGUE.

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 39

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales drew a rebuke from Pope Francis when he presented the Pontiff with a crucifix mounted on a hammer and sickle.
“That’s not right,” the Pope said when he saw the crucifix combined with the symbol of Communism. The incident occurred during the traditional exchange of gifts as the Pope paid a courtesy call on the Bolivian leader. 

 
Morales—who has a penchant for mixing Communist ideology and pagan rituals with Catholic symbols—has had a tense relationship with the Church since becoming president of Bolivia in 2006. He once referred to the Church as his “main enemy.”
Pope Francis appeared to be taken aback by the unusual gift. Bolivian officials explained that it was a replica of a crucifix made by Father Luis Espinal, a Jesuit human-rights activist who was killed in 1980. The Pope had paused to pray at the site of the priest’s death before arriving at the presidential palace. 

The 7,000,000 Ukrainians Joseph Stalin starved to death were unavailable for comment.