The Prayer Life of John Paul II : one cardinal's personal witness...
This week Pope Benedict XVI is on his annual spiritual exercises which have as
their focus this year : "The Light of Christ at the heart of the Church - John Paul
II and the theology of saints ". To coincide with this event we bring you a feature
focusing on the prayer life of the late Polish Pontiff as witnessed by one of his
closest advisors, Jesuit Cardinal Robert Tucci.
Striking, says this Cardinal
who was chief organizer of almost all of John Paul II's journeys abroad , was this
pope's capacity to isolate himself from everything around him and pray: "..even
when we were staying in the nunciature early in the morning he would spend three
quarters of an hour, alone in the chapel ...he was a man in continuous dialogue with
Our Lord, with the Mother of God..."
In this interview you can also hear how
John Paul II drew inspiration from a French Saint for the inscription "totus tuus"
on his coat of arms , how his interest in Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa
of Avila stemmed from the influence of a Polish tailor and finally how before becoming
pope he spent time writing at a prie-dieu in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament...
Listen
to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick :