O’Reilly Then:
“John Paul has sent his emissary, Cardinal Pio Laghi, to tell President Bush that attacking Iraq would be ‘unjust’ and ‘immoral.’ That’s like sending Sister Mary Theresa to tell Eminem to stop cursing… Humanistically, [the pope] is one of the many Saddam enablers.” (3/15/03)
“I believe also that John Paul is naive and detached from reality. If America does not lead an attack on Iraq, once again, Saddam remains in power and is free to use his anthrax and other terrible weapons as he chooses. … Summing up, Jacques Chirac is our enemy, and the pope, well, I don’t know what to think.” (3/12/03)
“John Paul II recently came out and said that any war against Iraq would be ‘immoral.’ Back in the ’30s, Pope Pius XII actually supported Hitler politically, at least in the beginning of his rise when Pius was stationed in Germany.” (3/8/03)
O’Reilly Now:
“I do know that I’ve studied this pope as well as I’ve studied anybody. And I can’t find anything, anything that this guy didn’t walk the walk. You know, right down the line. Nobody’s perfect, but this guy was close in his personal behavior and the way he conducted himself.” (3/31/05)