While the newly elected Pope John Paul II stood before Catholic cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on the 16th of October 1978, half a world away in Argentina a middle-aged priest named Jorge Mario Bergoglio was following the election on the radio of his car.
In that moment began a connection between the Polish pontiff and the man who would later become his successor as Pope Francis.
It is this historical moment that opens a new book by the Rev. Luigi Maria Epicoco, in which the Italian priest interviews Francis about his predecessor, finding continuity instead of rupture.
The book, titled “St. John Paul the Great,” was released in Italy on Tuesday (Feb. 11) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II. It is already being translated into several languages, including English.
Francis “recognizes John Paul II to be an extraordinary figure of a pope, a saint,” Epicoco said in an interview with Religion News Service on Tuesday.
John Paul II was the pope who promoted Bergoglio from priest to auxiliary bishop, from archbishop to cardinal, allowing him to become eligible — and then elected — to the papacy in the 2013 conclave. In turn, Francis placed a halo on Pope John Paul II’s head in 2014, making him a saint.
The book was the result of an informal conversation between Epicoco and Pope Francis, who had shown interest in the works of the young priest, teacher and theologian from the Italian Diocese of Aquila. Epicoco’s book on the importance of fatherhood in contemporary society, “Telemachus Wasn’t Wrong,” was much appreciated by the pontiff, he said.
During a meeting with Francis in June 2019, Epicoco voiced his intention to write a “spiritual biography” of John Paul II and was so taken by Francis’ personal anecdotes and stories of the pope that Epicoco suggested the idea of interviewing him on his predecessor.
“We told the story of John Paul II through the eyes of Pope Francis,” the priest said, adding that the book touches on many subjects dear to both pontiffs.
Among the topics discussed in the text are some of the thorniest facing the Catholic Church at this moment. These include the ordination of women, gender theory and the importance of priestly celibacy.
The latter has been a particularly hot-button issue since the last gathering of bishops, in October, which addressed the possibility of ordaining tested married men in remote areas where there is a shortage of priests.
Since then, the Vatican has made concerted efforts to reduce expectations for any changes in the church’s rules about celibacy. Notable figures in the Catholic Church, including the now retired Pope Benedict XVI, have spoken out in defense of celibacy, and Pope Francis has told bishops from the U.S. visiting Rome that he doesn’t “think the Holy Spirit is working on that now.”
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Source: Religion News Service
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:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/YP4LEL77ABHSLFYP6NDKJID2L4.jpg "Daniel Whyte III, President of Gospel Light Society International, calls on the Pope to shut down Baltimore’s Catholic Archdiocese and fire all of the Bishops and Priests as the Maryland Attorney General’s office investigation shows DEMONIC “ASTONISHING” DEPRAVITY of RAPE, SODOMY, and SEXUAL ABUSE of more than 600 YOUNG PEOPLE. Whyte says further that there is no remedy for this but to SHUT IT DOWN, sell all buildings and everything, and give the money to the victims and the poor people of Baltimore. If the Pope wants to be a true reformer, he should also target other offending Catholic Archdioceses and shut them down. Whyte also tells the Pope he believes the reason the Catholic Church was so quick to call for the legalization of homosexuality around the world and so quick to support the ordaining and sanctioning of homosexuality and homosexual marriage with the governments of the West is that the Catholic Church knew the Archbishops, Bishops, and Priests had destroyed the lives of thousands of young people by sodomizing and sexually abusing them and this includes nuns who have sexually molested girls by raping them with a crucifix. And the “sodomite” chickens are coming home to roost. Whyte says finally that Pope Francis should resign, post haste because he has not solved this terrible problem. The Pope made it worse with his unbiblical pronouncements.")
