Madrid, Spain, Feb 23, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Referring to the new book by Pope John Paul II, “Memory and Identity,” Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco of Madrid said this week the Pontiff proves himself an “exceptional European in his reflections and memories”.
John Paul II is “a first-class European,” the cardinal said, with rich experience that few politicians and top officials of public life “can equal.”
The book, which was released simultaneously in Italy, Germany and Brazil, closes out a trilogy that began with “Gift and Mystery,” in which the Pope wrote about his 50 years as a priest, and was followed by “Get Up, Let’s Go,” which he wrote to mark the 25th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.
Cardinal Rouco maintained that in the book, which is a summary of philosophical and theological conversations between the Pope and two Polish philosophers, Józef Tischner and Krzysztof Michalski, about the dictatorships that characterized the twentieth century, John Paul II directly addresses a series of issues in same way in which “he has related with the outside world.”