NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      WARSAW (CWNews.com) - A Polish municipal court on Monday turned down the government's attempt to take over a plot of land adjoining the former Auschwitz Nazi death camp in a bid to remove an embarrassing display of hundreds of crosses.

      Grassroots Catholic groups have set up the crosses to memorialize the Poles killed in the camps and to protest attempts to remove a cross erected at the site that commemorates Pope John Paul II's visit to the camp in 1979. The municipal court rejected the government's bid to appoint a caretaker for the land while it takes legal action to revoke the lease held by supporters of the cross plantings. The current occupants will now be able to stay on the site throughout the eviction process, which the protestors have vowed to fight through all levels of the Polish courts.

      Jewish groups have criticized the cross plantings as an offense to the memory of the more than 1 million Jews killed at the camp by the Nazis during World War II. They say an international accord bans religious, ideological, or political symbols at the camp.