One of the most enduring visual images of the Cold War—one of the early signs that the Soviet empire was doomed—was the sight of General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish strongman, literally shaking as he addressed the enormous crowd that gathered to greet St. John Paul II on his triumphant return to his homeland.

Make no mistake about it; Jaruzelski was a formidable enemy of the Catholic Church. With his Soviet comrades watching over his shoulder, he launched a harsh crackdown on the Solidarity movement. He was responsible for the imprisonment of hundreds of human-rights activists. He probably gave the order for troops to fire on striking workers, killing several; he may well have approved the brutal murder of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, the “Solidarity priest” who was bludgeoned to death in 1984. But Jaruzelski was also a realist, and when the Pope arrived in Poland, the general knew in his heart that he was overmatched. As indeed he was—not only by the man, but by the spiritual force the Pontiff represented.

General Jaruzelski lost the battle for Poland, of course. But for years he kept fighting another battle: to justify his leadership, to rationalize the decisions he made while he held power. Shortly before his death last week he surrendered that battle as well. Before he lost consciousness, Reuters reports, Jaruzelski “asked a Catholic priest to administer the last rites.” No longer an atheist, no longer an enemy; Wojciech Jaruzelski died a Catholic.

http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/the-city-gates.cfm?id=815

'Spose he'll be up for beatification now?

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.

Quote from: Capt McQuigg

A happy ending for a man who suffered much.   Or is that, caused the suffered of many?  

Even a communist strongman can receive the sacrament at death - the rest is in God's Hands.

It's like Mitterand. When he was president of France he said, "It is true that the masons are the anti-church and I am proud to be associated with them." However as he got older and his health took a turn for the worse he had a major change of attitude and when he died he died reconciled to the Catholic Church.
 :cool: :cool: :cool:

Mitterrand is a reprobate.  Think about it.  A man brags of being in opposition to the Holy Church, Mitterand lived to see the pre-revolution Church and hated it but when his own mortality is staring him in the face, he calls on some cash hungry socialist-clerics and "reconciles".

At least Christopher Hitchens had the integrity to say that, once he discovered he was stage four cancer, that changing his mind now would be grovelling.

Having said that, I do sincerely hope that these evil men converted even if it was their last dying breath.

It is best to leave them to Heaven.