A Life with Karol: My Forty-Year Friendship with the Man Who Became Pope

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 272 pages
• Published by: Doubleday March 4, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0385523742
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0385523745
• Book Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 12.8 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Pope John Paul II's personal secretary, who is now Cardinal Dziwisz, had an insider's view of many of the events that shaped John Paul II's pontificate. Dziwisz was a seminary student in Krakow when he first encountered the man then known as Karol Wojtyla. He later became a close and trusted ally of the pope for four decades. The author does not hide his glowing opinion of the deceased pontiff; as he describes it, John Paul II stood courageously against the oppressive Communist regime in his native Poland, supported the nascent Solidarity movement and was beloved by people of all nations and religions around the globe. These two men enjoyed an intimate friendship and shared a love for Catholicism and their priesthood. Perhaps it is the closeness of that friendship that prevents Dziwisz from criticizing John Paul II for anything he did as pope. For example, his claim that John Paul II's entire pontificate was a continual implementation of Vatican II is widely debated. Despite the hagiographical tone, one thing is clear—John Paul II was a formidable world figure in the latter half of the 20th century, and he never allowed his position to affect his ability to be a good friend. (Mar. 11)
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Product Description


This intimate, affectionate portrait of Pope John Paul II by his longtime secretary and confidant reveals fascinating new details about the opinions, hopes, fears, and dramatic life of this public man.

“I had accompanied him for almost forty years: twelve in Kraków and then twenty-seven in Rome. I was always with him, always at his side. Now, in the moment of death, he’d gone on alone. . . .And now? Who is accompanying him on the other side?”
—From A Life with Karol

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz worked side by side with Pope John Paul II for almost forty years, enjoying unique access to both the public and private man. In A life with Karol, he provides a close-up glimpse into the Pope’s life and the critical events of his papacy.

Dziwisz was sitting next to the Pope during the assassination attempt in 1981. He recounts the Pope's reaction to 9/11, describing his thoughts and feelings on that day. And the Cardinal’s moving description of the Pope’s haunting memories of World War II uncovers the roots of the pontiff’s intense opposition to George W. Bush’s war on Iraq.
The two men shared moments of fun and spontaneity as well. Dziwisz writes about the times the Pope would slip out of the Vatican, wearing a Panama hat, to stroll the streets of Rome, and he describes the clandestine ski and hiking trips the pair made to escape the Vatican. His firsthand account of the Pope’s last years also reveals that John Paul II considered resigning. These stories and others lend added poignancy to Dziwisz’s extraordinary portrayal of the Pope’s courage and calmness during his final illness.

Reader Reviews
There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that John Paul II was the greatest man of my lifetime. I say this, by the way, as a non-Roman Catholic. No other world leader touched so many people or exerted such moral influence on the contours of the late 20th century. I didn't always agree with him--I thought his negative views of Latin American liberation theology too harsh, for example--but I never for a moment doubted either his integrity or his deep, deep spirituality. I look forward to the day when he's canonized. Stanislaw Cardinal Dziwisz's A Life with Karol is a loving portrait of his forty years as John Paul's secretary. Dziwisz was in a perfect position to be John Paul's chronicler: an ever-present but unobstrusive spectator of the daily activities, private spiritual life, and public persona of first Karol Wojtyla, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal, and then John Paul II, Pope. Dziwisz's memoir sheds interesting light on Wojtyla's embrace of Gandhian tactics of resistance to the Polish communist authorities--a fidelity to nonviolence that led him to speak out strongly against warfare in the closing years of his pontificate; Wojtyla's great reservations about accepting the College of Cardinals' election to the papacy; his deeply-engrained conciliar temperament, a spirit of collaboration and cooperation that endeared him to both clergy and laity alike; his firm resolve to continue the work of Vatican II; his emphasis on the "new evangelization," which sought to reinvigorate a West increasingly indifferent to religion, and the ardent Christian humanism that became its centerpiece; and his efforts toward interfaith dialogue. Along the way, Dziwisz also provides a look at the daily routine of the pontiff, his devotion to prayer and worship, funny accounts of sneaking the pope out of the Vatican so that he could go skiing, and a somber description of John Paul's final illness and suffering. John Paul's total devotion to God--his personal motto was "totus tuus"--is the key to appreciating both life, theology, and accomplishments. Deeply grounded in scripture, an ardent defender of the Church's best moral and spiritual traditions but a courageous progressive when it came to human rights, labor and capitalism, and war and nonviolence, John Paul ultimately grounded everything he did in his love of God and his conviction that Christ is manifest in human beings. If there's a single overriding impression given in Dziwisz's memoir, it's that his entire life, lived in radical openness to God, was also radically open to his fellow humans.