JPII "regularly whipped himself", Vatican official confirms

27-01-2010

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Pope John Paul II regularly whipped himself with a trouser belt that he kept in his wardrobe, and wanted to step down as pontiff in the event of incurable illness, said Vatican postulator, Monsignor Slawomir Oder.

The practise has now been confirmed by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Vatican postulator who has the task of reviewing John Paul's life and preparing a case for him being made a saint, the UK's Telegraph reports.

In the new book, "Why he's a saint", Msgr Oder writes: "As members of the Pope's close entourage heard with their own ears, Karol Wojtyla used to flagellate himself.

"In his wardrobe, in between all his robes, a special trouser belt hung on a coat hanger, which he used as a whip. He always took it with him when he went to Castel Gandolfo (the traditional summer residence of the popes outside Rome)."

The book also described how, as a bishop in Poland, the future pontiff would often sleep on a bare floor as an act of self-denial and asceticism.

Msgr Oder, who like the former Pope is Polish, also revealed in the new book that John Paul had decided that in the event of an "incurable sickness" he would voluntarily step down rather than stay in office until his death.

He declared in 1989 that in "the case of sickness that is deemed to be incurable, which prevents me from sufficiently fulfilling the functions of my apostolic ministry," he would renounce his positions as the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bishop of Rome.

Senior Vatican cardinals would then have been entrusted with the task of putting the resignation into effect, after which a new Pope would have been elected.

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=19034