St. John Paul II taught the world that truly great faith and holiness dwell in “the normality of a person who lives in profound communion with Christ,” Pope Francis said in a new book.
Precisely because he allowed people to see he was a human being — whether skiing or praying, hiking or suffering — “every gesture of his, every word, every choice he made always had a much deeper value and left a mark,” Pope Francis told Father Luigi Maria Epicoco, author of the Italian book “San Giovanni Paolo Magno” (“St. John Paul the Great”).
The book, published by Edizioni San Paolo and set for release Feb. 11, was written to mark the 100th anniversary of St. John Paul’s birth May 18, 1920.
Much of the book is biographical information about the late pope, but each chapter includes Pope Francis’ response to questions from Father Epicoco about his relationship with the late pope and observations about St. John Paul’s spirituality, personality, events in his life and his teaching.
Pope Francis said there is “total harmony” between his thoughts about the meaning of ministerial priesthood and St. John Paul’s teaching on priesthood.
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With thanks to Catholic News Service (CNS) and Cindy Wooden, where this article originally appeared.
