From nobody Wed Mar 19 11:55:41 2003
From: C R Spinner <cspinner@netcom.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.zimbabwe,soc.culture.african.american,soc.culture.african
Subject: The European Crusaders
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 00:48:06 -0800
Message-ID: <fc7g7vcg9n57g8l71v97edgrj6hvsm4ih4@4ax.com>

Media derides mystic's influence on president

Reuters, Friday 14 March 2003; posted: 10:36 AM EST (1536 GMT)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (Reuters)—Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas stirred up a media storm over his faith in a mystic who wraps people in toilet paper to cure their ills.

Paksas' claim to be a “believer” in mystic Lena Lolisvili has sparked uproar in the Catholic former Soviet country, which is sensitive about its image abroad after being invited to join the European Union and NATO in 2004.

Lolisvili, an ethnic Georgian who claims God tells her the future and energizes toilet paper she then wraps around her patients, told Paksas in 1996 he would become president.

“This is clearly the work of the devil,” said Cardinal Audrys Backis.