WARSAW, Poland — Pope John Paul II's secretary says he "did not have the courage" to burn the pontiff's notes and is having them published, contrary to John Paul's wish.
The book, Very Much in God's Hands, comes out in Poland on Feb. 5. It contains meditations that Karol Wojtyla recorded between 1962, when he was a bishop in Poland, until 2003 when he was pope.
In his will, John Paul commissioned Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz to burn the notes. Instead, Dziwisz kept them and is having them published before John Paul is declared a saint in April.
Dziwisz said Wednesday that he burned letters and some of notes, but says it would have been a crime to burn the notes which give insight into the pope's soul. John Paul died in 2005.