YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett

During the day that preceded the passing of Pope John Paul II, I was listening pretty much nonstop to HRT, Hrvatski Radiotelevisija, and I noticed that the kind of comments people made were mostly, as I would expect in the States, sympathetic, expressive of their feelings of loss, same goes for 'man in the street' type interviews, and the interviewees whether in Croatia, or in Sarajevo BiH where they did some interviews, ran the gamut from two people who were Americans traveling in Croatia, young people out on the streets, and old people, some very old people. There were at least two tough looking guys who cried. I mean these guys looked so tough that I would have been scared to meet them in a dark alley, and you could see they were grief stricken.
The people who called in to the special broadcast were something you don't see much, or hear much anymore in the States, they were polite, and I noticed one caller commenting on the special tie between Croatia and the Pope, knew his history very well.

The caller spoke about the fact that the best loved Queen of Poland, was St. Queen Jadviga, a very great woman, responsible for fostering learning in Poland. It is nto generally understood by Americans that she was actually NOT Polish ethnicaly, she was actually half French, her father was Louis the Great, one of the Angevin kings of Hungary, and her mother was Elizebeth of Bosnia, daughter of King Stjepan Kotramanic. I am familiar with those facts as my family descends from the House of Anjou on my mother's side as well as the House of Kotramanic and the House of Kosaca. Most Americans don't know who these people are, but of course Polish people know, and Croats know, and Bosnians know.
Pope John Paul II had a very special love for the people of both Croatia and Bosnia Hercegovina. It's one reason he visited several times, even when it was a major risk to do so. My hope is that the sucessor of Pope John Paul II will be a good leader for the Church whoever is selected for this importatnt job.