| ROME — Pope John Paul II has marked his 84th birthday with the publication of a book about his life in Krakow during Poland’s Communist regime in the two decades preceding his election as Pope in 1978.
The Vatican also published on May 18 the program for the Pope’s forthcoming visit to Switzerland scheduled for June 5-6, triggering tributes in the Italian press to the pontiff’s determination to restart his international pilgrimages despite failing health.
Meanwhile, an open letter calling on the Pope to stand down and signed by more than 40 Roman Catholic priests and lay people in Switzerland was denounced as “disgusting and disloyal” by Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel.
One of the signatories to the open letter, Xavier Pfister, Catholic information officer in Basel, told the swissinfo Internet service that although the Pope had done good work, the church was best served by the retirement of any Pope who had turned 75, the same age that bishops retire.
“In the run-up to the Pope’s visit, it is important to make clear the different views within the Swiss Catholic Church regarding the Pope and this situation,” Pfister said.
In his new book, Get Up, Let Us Go, John Paul II, born on May 18, 1920 in the Polish town of Wadowice, mixes reminiscences about his life as an auxiliary bishop and then archbishop in Krakow, and the struggle against the communist regime. The book contains theological and biblical reflections, and some personal anecdotes.
In 1958, on being told by Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, the then head of the Catholic Church in Poland, that he would be auxiliary bishop of Krakow, the young Karol Wojtyla replied, “But eminence, I’m too young, I’ve only just turned 38.”
“That,” replied the cardinal, “is a weakness of which you shall soon be cured.”
Vatican spokesperson, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, told journalists in Rome that the last pope to have published such “private” works during his pontificate was Pope Benedict XIV, who died in 1758.
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