January 5, 2011. (Romereports.com) Jerzy Kluger, who was a lifelong friend of John Paul II died on December 31st at the age of 90. He passed away in Rome after a three year struggle with  Alzheimer's disease. Kluger who was Jewish,  was close childhood friend of John Paul II. In fact, over the years their friendship only grew.


During a 2005 interview with ROME REPORTS, Kluger remembered how one day, he waited for Karol Wojtyla while the future pope prayed in church. A woman approached the young boy and scolded him. She told him a Jew shouldn't be inside a Catholic Church.

Jerzy Kluger
“When I told Karol what had happened, he became very serious and said, 'Do they not realize that we are children of the same God?' We were 10 years old when he said this to me.”

Kluger was a year younger than John Paul II who died in 2005.


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