April Fool? Or Bismarck's Birthday?

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, Count von Bismarck-Schönhausen.

April 1, 1815 - July 30, 1898

In the name of "unifying" the German states under a common "kulture" he worked to oppress Roman Catholicism. The first of modern secularists who think they are "unifying" and "helping" their country by attacking the Church.

Happy birthday to all of you who think you are reincarnated Otto von Bismarck!
(Except, well, there is no reincarnation and that's not an April Fool's joke. People ought to be relieved to know that they truly are living their own lives, and not at the puppet strings of reincarnation...)

More correctly would be that his new "birthday" became July 30, when he "met his maker."
(I wonder what God thought of suppressing people's religious rights in the "goal" of "achieving a unified culture?!") Hmmm.

My mother's German and when I was a child she taught me a funny ditty about Bismarck. On the serious side, this shows that even events in the 1800's are only a generation or two away, and their implications ripple onward (without it being due to reincarnation LOL!)

And so we turn our attention from the oppressions of the past, and during this Lent, praise the New German, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. I hope that he continues to have much success in teaching those who listen how there is no "culture" if one turns one's back on God.