In an ironic turn of the Krakow real estate market, the house where Pope John Paul II grew up may turn quite a profit for its American Jewish owners. (The irony being that most Jewish property was “repossessed” by the Nazis in WWII.)
The GuardianUK reports:
The two rooms and a kitchen in southern Poland where Karol Wojtyla was born in 1920 is now a shrine to the memory of the late Pope John Paul II, visited by up to 5,000 pilgrims every day. The property, owned by the heirs of a local Jewish family living in the US, is also now the target of a discreet bidding war pitting the Archbishop of Krakow, the pontiff’s former confidante, against Polish and American Jewish organisations.
More irony: It turns out the Catholic Church is balking at what they call and “exhorbitant price” $1 million. (Feh. It’s almost the same price for a two-bedroom in my neighborhood, and no popes slept there.) The Jews of Krakow, who want to buy the house to commemorate the pontiff’s compassionate work on behalf of the Jews, are fundraising like crazy.
Oh the irony! When will those catholics learn?
Even the price of $1 is exhorbitant to the Catholis Church. They want everything to be donated to them.