The End and the Beginning

by George Weigel

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  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  It is a pleasure to recognize those whose knowledge, cooperation, and counsel helped bring this amplification and completion of the biography of Pope John Paul II to the public.

  In Rome: Here, the first word of thanks must go to Pope John Paul II. Shortly before his death, I told him that I would finish the task I had begun in 1995; this book is the fulfillment of that promise. As he had been during the preparation of Witness to Hope, the late Pope was unfailingly gracious as I chronicled the last years of his pontificate and probed his mind on a host of issues, dilemmas, and crises. At no time during this process did John Paul II try to bend my analysis or judgment in a certain direction. As it had been with Witness to Hope, so it was with The End and the Beginning: in the Pope’s view, this work was my responsibility, and I was free to make the judgments that seemed appropriate to me. In the last years of the pontificate, we spent dozens of hours together over meals and in other settings, in the Vatican and at Castel Gandolfo, such that I was able to experience firsthand the remarkable witness he gave through his suffering and death. I treasure the memory of our conversations, and to honor his own unflinching integrity, I have tried to be as honest as possible in chronicling his late years and assessing his legacy.

  Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, now archbishop of Kraków, was always gracious and helpful in arranging my visits with John Paul II; during our discussions, I often benefited from his insights, which were considerable (and occasionally pungent). Stanisław Dziwisz’s self-sacrifice on behalf of the man he served for almost four decades drew widespread and well-deserved respect, and I am happy to add my own words of thanks to him for his cooperation and friendship over many years.

  The prefect of the papal household, Archbishop James M. Harvey, was a constant source of insight, wise counsel, and good company, for which I am deeply grateful.

  The faculty, staff, and students of the Pontifical North American College helped make the many days I spent as their guest very pleasant indeed. Some who were particularly helpful are acknowledged below individually, but to all on the Gianicolo—Ad multos annos!

  During the drama of April 2005 I was a guest in Rome of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, to whom I am most grateful for their generous hospitality. Special words of thanks must go to Mother Mary Quentin Sheridan, R.S.M., and Sister Mary Christine Cremin, R.S.M.

  Rome is indeed the crossroads of the Catholic world, and I should like to thank the following individuals for their cooperation in the preparation of this work, during their and my time in Rome over the past decade (ecclesiastical titles are current as of late 2009): Sister Rebecca Able, O.S.B., John L. Allen, Jr., Cardinal Francis Arinze, Cardinal William Baum, Alejandro Bermudez, Rocco Buttiglione, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, Archbishop Claudio Celli, Msgr. James Checchio, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Bishop James Conley, Cardinal Desmond Connell, Roberto de Mattei, Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, O.P., Jean Duchesne, Bishop Brian Farrell, L.C., Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, M.Afr., Father Kevin Flannery, S.J., Msgr. Anthony Frontiero, Msgr. Thomas Fucinaro, Father Robert Gahl, Father Daniel Gallagher, Father Alberto Garbin, Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I., Father Richard Gill, L.C., Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, Nina Sophie Heereman, Cardinal Lubomir Husar, M.S.U., Gregory Jewell, Cardinal Walter Kasper, Father Mark Knestout, Father Uwe Michael Lang, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Elizabeth Lev, Sandro Magister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Father Paul Mankowski, S.J., Marta Brancatisano Manzi, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Father Krzystof Mięsozerny, Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., Msgr. Christopher Nalty, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, Ambassador James Nicholson, Suzanne Nicholson, Virginia Coda Nunziante, Father Paul O’Callaghan, Msgr. Sławomir Oder, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., Cardinal George Pell, Marcello Pera, Father Thomas Powers, Roberto Presilla, Father Joseph Previtali, Philip Pulella, David Quinn, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Ambassador Francis Rooney, Kathleen Rooney, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, Father Samir Khalil Samir, S.J., Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Father Martin Schlag, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, Msgr. K. Bartholomew Smith, Vittorio Sozzi, Cardinal James Francis Stafford, Father Jeffrey Steenson, Ambassador Hanna Suchocka, John Thavis, Bishop Daniel Thomas, Father Richard Tomasek, S.J., Father Christian Troll, S.J., Michael Waldstein, Father John Wauck, Msgr. Peter Wells, and Father Thomas D. Williams, L.C.

  Prior to his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was kind enough to continue the conversations that had proven so helpful to me in preparing Witness to Hope, and that were equally helpful in conceiving The End and the Beginning.

  In Poland: I have now spent, all told, more than two and a half years of my life in Poland, where I have always found a cordial welcome. In the preparation of this volume, special thanks must go to the surviving members of the first generation of Karol Wojtyła’s Środowisko, who shared decades of reminiscences with me, as well as the books they assembled to create a public record of a remarkable set of friendships. Piotr Malecki and Teresa Malecka were unfailingly helpful in arranging for me to meet with Wujek’s friends, among whom I must thank in particular Danuta Ciesielska (widow of the Servant of God Jerzy Ciesielski), Stanisław Rybicki, Danuta Rybicka, Maria Rybicka, and Karol Tarnowski.

  Part One of this book—the retelling of the story of Karol Wojtyła’s forty-four-year contest with communism—was made possible in part by the scholarly courtesy and insight of Andrzej Grajewski, who generously shared with me many of the fruits of his research at the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw and in the Stasi files in Berlin. I am also grateful to Dr. Grajewski for his measured and careful reading of these and other sensitive materials, and I trust that my approach to the interpretation of these documents meets the high standards he has established in his own work.

  I am also grateful to the following for their help in, or about, Poland: Paweł Adamowicz, Anne Applebaum, Alicja Baluch, T. David Curp, Rafał Dutkiewicz, Msgr. Marek Gancarczyk, Archbishop Tadeusz Go
cłowski, C.M., Jarosław Gowin, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Walz, Stanisław Grygiel, Father Tomasz Jaklewicz, Elżbieta Kot, Father Jarosław Kupczak, O.P., Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, Paweł Malecki, Wiktor Micherdziński, Zbigniew Minda, Jacek Popiel, Jacek Puchla, Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy, Stanisław Rodziński, Radek Sikorski, Father Adam Sulikowski, O.P., Father Robert Woźniak, Henryk Woźniakowski, Father Maciej Zięba, O.P., and Archbishop Damian Zimoń. Thanks, too, to the members of the Polish Province of the Order of Preachers who, in addition to the Dominicans named here, offered hospitality and fellowship on many occasions.

  In the United States: My thanks to Annelise Anderson and Martin Anderson, Joe and Lori Anderson, Joseph Bottum, Don J. Briel, Fred and Peggy Clark, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., Scott Faley, Peter Flanigan, Russell Hittinger, Jim and Claudia Holman, Leon R. Kass, Henry Kissinger, Charles Krauthammer, Hugh McDonald, Jon Meacham, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Bishop William F. Murphy, Father Jay Scott Newman, Robert Niehaus, Michael Novak, the late Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, Robert and Lydia Odle, Edmund Pellegrino, James Piereson, Father Ronald Roberson, C.S.P., William E. Simon, Jr., and the board and staff of the William E. Simon Foundation, John and Cindy Sites, Janet Smith, Father David Toups, Andreas Widmer, Robert Louis Wilken, and Archbishop Donald Wuerl for various insights, answers, courtesies, and support. I remain grateful as well to the priests and people of St. Jane Frances de Chantal parish in Bethesda, Maryland, with whom I pray and by whom I am nourished; Msgr. Donald S. Essex has been pastor and friend throughout both Witness to Hope and The End and the Beginning.

  Elsewhere: I am grateful for various forms of assistance received from Father Iwan Dacko, Father Raymond J. de Souza, Theresa Krystiniak Gerson, Father Borys Gudziak, Walter Hooper, Daniel Johnson, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, Mario Paredes, Archbishop Ioan Robu, Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., Anthony Sivers, Archbishop Beniamino Stella, Jack Valero, and Archbishop Rowan Williams.