Remember the Polish jokes?

I was listening to Patrick Madrid this morning, and he observed that we don't hear the Polish jokes we heard back in the 60s and 70s--which were about American-Poles, not the ones living under the oppression of Communism. John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet Union--with the help of the collapsing economies of Eastern Europe--something that happens to Communist countries. The Poles survived the Nazis and the Russians and today 90% of the country is Catholic and thriving. According to Wikipedia, Poland has seen the largest increase GDP per capita (more than 100%) both among the former Soviet-bloc countries, and compared to the EU-15 (around 45%). It has had uninterrupted economic growth since 1992, even after the 2007 financial crisis. We could learn a lot from Poland--and that's no joke.

A little history about the Pope's visit to Armenia

"In 301 AD, twelve years before Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, King Tiridates III made Christianity the official religion of Armenia, the first national ruler to do so. The Armenians were subsequently conquered by the Romans, Arabs, Persians, Ottomans, and Soviets. In 1915, the Young Turks government attempted to exterminate them, massacring 1.5 million. In 1988, an earthquake killed up to 50,000 Armenians. That same year, a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan claimed tens of thousands of lives. . .According to a 2012 survey, 92 percent of Armenians consider themselves religious, the third-highest percentage anywhere (in the United States it’s 60 percent)." https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2016/06/25/pope-francis-and-the-armenian-church/

If you read the whole article, you'll notice the author isn't a fan of Pope Francis.    He has dual citizenship, U.S. and Poland. Big fan of John Paul II.

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/4850/how_saint_john_paul_ii_conquered_communism.aspx