Pope John Paul II: The Biography by Tad Szulc

Abstract

Pope John Paul II: The Biography. By Tad Szulc. (New York: Scribner. 1995. Pp. 542. $27.50.) Aptly subtitled The (not merely A) biography of Pope John Paul II, Szulc's timely book will predictably have field to itself for indefinite future. All of other biographies of Pope accessible to this reviewer, whether in original language or in translation, pale in comparison to it or, in vernacular, cannot hold candle to it. Born and raised in Poland, Szulc has spent his entire adult life working, first, as highly respected reporter for The New York Times in New York City, Rome, and several Latin American capitals and, more recently, as an unaffiliated free-lance writer with dozen boo to his credit, plus number of nationally syndicated interviews, including one with John Paul II on Catholic-Jewish relations. It is tempting for some critics to denigrate even serious historical works by an academically uncredentialed writer as mere journalism which, in their view, does not measurer up to exacting standards of professional scholarship in field. In case of Szulc's book, that would be serious mistake. The incredible range and depth of his on-the-spot, person-to-person research in Poland, Rome, United States, and other countries; his unprecedented personal access to John Paul II and to Pope's closest friends, colleagues, and collaborators both in Poland and in Rome; his firsthand knowledge of Vatican and Roman Curia; his personal knowledge of political situation in Poland; and his privileged entree to leaders of both Church and State in Poland, Rome, and elsewhere, will be difficult for future historians to match simply on basis of archival research In short, there is something to be said for writing of serious history by an experienced reporter while all or most of principals are still alive and accessible and because they have confidence in his judgment and respect his Expertise and professional integrity, are willing to provide him on record with essential background information which is not available, and may never become available, in their official archives. On latter score, Szulc has uncovered several scoops which are of more than passing interest and significance: The never-before told story of how Polish Communist regime influenced elevation of Bishop Wojtyla to Archbishop, key step on his road to papacy; The real story, based on handwritten notes, of delicate negotiations between Gorbachev, Pope, and General Jaruzelski, concerning rise of democracy in Poland; The moving drama of John Paul II's secret conduct of developing relationship between Vatican and Israel; The detailed, hour-by-hour, inside story of Wojtyla's election as Pope as revealed by cardinals who were present at conclave. It is important to note, however, that Szulc's intimate portrait of Pope goes far beyond and beneath Holy Father's public persona. As he reports in his preface, when John Paul II and he first discussed his plans to write his biography, Holy Father remarked that a biography must be more than dates, facts, and quotations.... It must convey, Pope stated in Polish: the person's heart, soul, thoughts.... Szulc acted upon Pope's advice in this regard by studying in depth Polish history and literature and immersing himself in Pope's voluminous writings both before and since his election to papacy. Szulc's extensive study of Pope's phenomenal output of articles and books leads him to conclude that Karol Wojtyla simply had to be most prolific writer in Poland. In this connection it would be fair to add that no pope in history has ever written as much in his own name and in his own hand as John Paul II has done on an astonishingly wide variety of subjects. Indeed, one gets impression that writing is and always has been veritable passion with man, and this despite fact that throughout his entire adult life he has been burdened with administrative duties that would have made it impossible for less energetic and less disciplined man to have found time for anything more than casual and routine writing. …