Pope John Paul flagellated himself, new book says

The book, called “Why he is a Saint-The Real John Paul II”  was written by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Vatican official in  charge of the process that could lead to sainthood for John  Paul. It includes previously unpublished documents.

John Paul, who died in 2005, was shot and nearly killed in  1981, underwent several operations, including one for cancer,  and suffered from Parkinson’s disease for more than a decade.

He moved closer to sainthood last month when Pope Benedict  approved a decree recognising that his predecessor had lived the  Christian faith heroically.

The book, published yesterday, reveals that even when he  was not ill, he inflicted pain on himself, a practice known in  Christianity as mortification, so as to feel closer to God.

“In Krakow as in the Vatican, Karol Wojtyla flagellated  himself,” Oder writes in the book, citing people in the late  pope’s close entourage while he was bishop in his native Poland  and after he was elected pope in 1978.