THE VATICAN: Pope John Paul II considered and then rejected the idea of resignation, according to his spiritual testament released in the Vatican yesterday. That is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of a testament written during his annual Lenten retreat in seven different years between 1979 and 2000.
In the 15-page document, originally written in Polish, the Pope reflects on the course of his life from his childhood in Wadowice through to the infirmity of his old age. He recalls his parents, his brother, the sister he never knew (she died before he was born), as well as his university and school days and life under the Nazi occupation.
At the beginning of the document, in the first entry in 1979, he points out that he leaves behind "no property that need be disposed of". He orders that his everyday personal effects be distributed as "seems opportune" and that his private notes be burned.
Then he pays tribute to his long-serving private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz: "I ask that Don Stanislaw take care of all of this and I thank him for all his help, collaboration and understanding through so many years."
Archbishop Dziwisz is one of just three people referred to by name in the document.
The others are the late Polish Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Elio Toaff, who was chief rabbi of Rome when the Pope made a historic visit to the city's synagogue in 1986.
With regard to his funeral, in an entry made on March 5th, 1982, he calls on the College of Cardinals to "satisfy in as much as is possible the wishes" of the Polish Bishops' Conference. That would seem to suggest that the Pope had at least considered the idea of being buried in Poland.
However, in a further entry of March, three years later, he appears to have changed his mind, writing that the College of Cardinals "is in no way obliged" to consult with the Polish Church on the funeral (and burial) arrangements. It may be that as the years passed, as his pontificate gained in weight and significance, John Paul II began to feel that he belonged more to the universal church in Rome than to his native Polish one.
Inevitably, however, it is the final section of this testament that will prompt most discussion. In what is by far the longest entry, written in the Jubilee Year 2000, the Pope clearly considers the implications of his age and increasing infirmity.
"Now in the year of my life that I reach 80 (octogesima adveniens), one has to ask oneself if the time has not come to repeat the words of Simeon in the bible, Nunc dimittis (May you let your servant go in peace)."
The Pope, however, then goes on to recall his "miraculous" escape from death on the day in May 1981 that Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot him during a general audience in St Peter's Square. He argues that, in a certain sense, the Lord not only lengthened his life, but gave it to him anew, adding: "From this moment on, my life more than ever belongs to Him. I hope that He will help me understand for just how long I must continue this service. I ask him to call me home to Him when He Himself wants".
In essence, the Pope would seem to have considered and then rejected the idea of resignation, arguing that it is a decision that only God can take. This would conform to the Pope's own public expressions of faith, since many times during his last, ailing years he said that God had put him on the seat of Peter - and only God could take him off it.
Speaking to The Irish Times in Rome last night, the Bishop of Cloyne, Mgr John Magee, who served as private secretary to John Paul II from 1978 to 1987, as well as to Paul VI and John Paul I before them, confirmed this interpretation of the Pope's testament.
"The Pope would, of course, have given consideration to it [ resignation], but he considered that the day he said yes [ in the conclave] that he was called into a mission which would only end with the Lord taking it from him.
"If he was to continue the mission that Christ had given him, he could not have thought of retirement. Paul VI did think of it. Paul VI had written a letter saying that if there came a moment when the condition of his health would damage the Church, this letter, a letter of resignation, was to be taken into consideration.
"But John Paul II did not write such a letter."
Throughout the testament the Pope consigns his fate to God, repeating his oft-used motto, totus tuus, "all yours", addressed to Mary, Mother of God. The first words of the testament, written in 1979, begin: "Watch, because you know not the day the Lord will come" (Matthew, 24, 22).
Writing just nine months after the assassination attempt, he says: "The attempt on my life on May 13th, 1981, in a way confirmed the accuracy of the words I wrote during my spiritual exercises in 1980. Even more profoundly, I feel that I am totally in the hands of God, and I remain constantly at the disposition of my Lord, entrusting myself to Him through his Immaculate Mother, 'totus tuus'."