Private papers of Bl. John Paul II to appear in book form
January 17, 2014
The private papers of Blessed John Paul II will be published in February in book form, despite the late Pontiff’s instructions that they should be burned.
In his final testament, Pope John Paul II directed this his personal papers should be destroyed. “I ask that Father Stanislaw see to this,” he wrote, referring to his private secretary. But after the Polish Pontiff’s death, “Father Stanislaw”—now Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow—announced that he would override the Pope’s wishes because the papers had great historical importance.
The private papers will be released in February by the Polish publisher Znak, under the title I Am in God’s Hands: Personal Notes, 1962-2003.
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Posted by: bruno.cicconi7491 -
Jan. 18, 2014 4:41 PM ET USA
I don't know, Mario. One needs a good reason to violate trust, and not doing the requested wrong may be such reason. However in this case the demand wasn't wrong, but, according to the Cardinal, bad. He didn't think that publishing would be right, he thought that publishing would be better (or rather that it would "benefit history"), and there's a difference there. Unless he knew the Pope so well that he knew that his modesty wouldn't allow him to ask for the publishing of the letters.
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Posted by: mario.f.leblanc5598 -
Jan. 18, 2014 12:04 PM ET USA
I am not disturbed by this news, and I do look forward to reading the late pope's writings. Maybe the correct way of looking at this matter is to say that Cardinal Dziwisz became convinced that what was demanded of him was wrong. And I don't think anyone is bound by a request to do something wrong, or even by a pledge to do something wrong.
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Posted by: -
Jan. 17, 2014 10:25 PM ET USA
This is wrong and the late Pope's secretary has behaved badly. His job was to implement the Pope's wishes, not override him as a matter of the secretary's decision.
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Posted by: wsw33410 -
Jan. 17, 2014 8:42 PM ET USA
I found this news disturbing - Card Dziwisz, in charge of personal artifacts of the soon Saint John Paul 2, and clearly directed TO DESTROY these papers, decided to publish them. IS ANYTHING SACRATED today?
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Posted by: bruno.cicconi7491 -
Jan. 17, 2014 8:37 PM ET USA
That doesn't seem right of Father Stanislaw. I wonder if it would be right to read a book published against the express will of its author?
