"Triptych" Planned in Japanese and Bulgarian

In 2003, the Vatican Press, which has the publishing rights, came to agreements for its translation and publication in Dutch, Hungarian, Korean, Croatian, Russian, Czech, Romanian, Slovenian, Malayalam (India), Catalan, Basque, Norwegian and Portuguese.

The poetic reflections, published last March, are also available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and the original Polish.

There is also a documentary in Italian, made by the Vatican Television Center, with the complete reading of the texts, accompanied by pictures of the Sistine Chapel and background music.

John Paul II began writing his 33-page work in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, when he returned from his August 2002 trip to Poland.

In the work, he addresses important questions of life and of his life, including the mystery of his election as Pope and that of his successor.

In Poland alone, 600,000 copies have been distributed, said Father Cirio Benedettini, deputy director of the Vatican press office.