Letters reveal Pope's 30-yr friendship

Pope John Pau II at the Vatican with anna-Teresa Tymieniecka.

By AFP

Published: Mon 15 Feb 2016, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 16 Feb 2016, 7:38 AM

Pope John Paul II had a close relationship with a married woman which lasted over 30 years, according to letters which featured in a documentary being shown by the BBC on Monday.
While the documentary does not claim he broke his vow of celibacy with Polish-born philosopher and writer Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, the tone of some of his letters to her points to intense feelings between them, the broadcaster says.
The two spent camping and skiing holidays together and went on country walks. In one letter from September 1976, he calls her a "gift from God".
"My dear Teresa," he writes. "You write about being torn apart, but I could find no answer to these words."
Also in September 1976, he writes: "Already last year I was looking for an answer to these words, 'I belong to you', and finally, before leaving Poland, I found a way - a scapular."
(A scapular is a piece of cloth worn as part of the habit of monastic orders and the then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla gave Tymieniecka his.)

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AFP

Published: Mon 15 Feb 2016, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 16 Feb 2016, 7:38 AM

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