JPII diaries published next month

Private notes and diaries belonging to Pope John Paul II are to be published in Poland, despite a specification in his final will that they should be burned by his former secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.

The chairman of the southern city’s Catholic Znak publishing house, Henryk Wozniakowski, told journalists the 640-page collection, I Am Very Much in God’s Hands, would hit bookshops nationwide on 5 February in a cheap £9 edition. Meanwhile, the decision to edit and publish the material, covering the years 1962-2003, was defended by Cardinal Dziwisz, who said he had rejected the Pope’s request to destroy it because it provided “a key to understanding his spirituality” and what was “most internal within a person – his relationship with God, to others and to himself”.

However, the move has been widely criticised in Poland as an act of disloyalty towards the late pontiff, who said in his will, published at his death in April 2005, that he was leaving “no property which needs to be disposed of”, and counted on the then Bishop Dziwisz to ensure his wishes were observed after “so many years of forbearing cooperation and help”.

Znak said the Pope’s “two simple notebooks”, which were used in his canonisation process, contained his “most important personal questions, as well as deep moving meditations and prayers marking the rhythm of each day” as well as his “care for his dearest friends and collaborators, and the Church”.