Work of Vatican's Polish section increases as pope's health falters

Published: 2004-07-15

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- A frail Pope John Paul II dictates his speeches and texts to a dedicated team of Polish priests, sometimes letting his assistants complete the text after the pope conveys his message, said a Polish priest who works for the Vatican's Secretariat of State. The work of the Secretariat of State's Polish section has increased as the health of the pope falters, Father Pawel Ptasznik said in a July interview with Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI. Father Ptasznik said the pope writes the majority of his texts, "although he's recently been dictating them and sometimes asks us to complete them." "When he wants to write or convey some text to the Curia, he calls me in and dictates it. This applies mostly to speeches. He previously dictated these in detail, but he now more often explains his main thought and leaves me to develop it. He makes the final decision, however, as to how far the text meets his expectations," he said. Father Ptasznik said the pope's Polish assistants are with the pope "practically all the time, especially now that his possibilities of movement are limited."

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