vatican

Documents: Pope Weighed Resigning in 2000

By Victo L. Simpson
Associated Press Writer

April 7, 2005

CBN.com – VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The late Pope John Paul II suggested in his last will and testament that he considered the possibility of resigning in 2000, at a time when he was already ailing and when the Roman Catholic Church began its new millennium.

The document, which the Vatican released Thursday, also said he had left no material property and asked that all his personal notes be burned. It mentioned only two living people: his personal secretary and the chief rabbi of Rome who welcomed him to Rome's synagogue in 1986.

The Polish-born pope, who died Saturday at the age of 84, also had considered the possibility of a funeral in Poland, but later left it up to the College of Cardinals to decide. The pope will be buried under St. Peter's Basilica on Friday after a funeral in the square.

John Paul wrote the testament over the course of his 26-year pontificate, starting in 1979, the year after he was elected. It was written in his native Polish and translated by the Vatican into Italian.

Writing in 2000, the pope, who suffered from Parkinson's disease and crippling hip and knee ailments, suggested the time was one of apparent torment for him, mentioning the 1981 attempt on his life. He called his survival a "miracle."

He said he hoped the Lord "would help me to recognize how long I must continue this service to which he called me the day of 16 October, 1978."

He also prayed at the time that he would have the "necessary strength" to continue his mission as long as he was serving as pope.

John Paul mentioned only two people in his will. They were his personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, whom he thanked profusely for his years of service. And in recalling various Christian and non-Christians for thanks, he singled out "the rabbi of Rome" - a reference to the former chief rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, who hosted John Paul during the pontiff's historic visit to Rome's central synagogue in 1986.

It was the first time a pope had ever visited a synagogue. Toaff paid his respects when he viewed John Paul's body on Monday, raising his arm in a gesture of tribute.

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