By Father Mariusz Frukaez
WARSAW, Poland, FEB. 8, 2011 (Zenit.org).- A book by theologian Cardinal Stanislaw Kazimierz Nagy pays tribute not only to Karol Wojtyła, but also to one of Wojtyła’s collaborators, Father Tadeusz Styczeń.
«Witnesses of the Great Pope» is available in Polish as part of the library series of the Catholic weekly Niedziela of the Archdiocese of Czestochowa.
The first part of the book, titled «Testimony of a Great Witness,» includes firsthand accounts of John Paul II’s Pontificate from Cardinal Nagy, 89, as well as from Monsignor Ireneusz Skubis, chief editor of Niedziela, and of Father Andrzej Szostek.
Cardinal Nagy, who taught at the Catholic University of Lublin at the same time as Father Karol Wojtyla, served as a member of the International Theological Commission from 1986-1996. A member of Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, he was created a non-voting member of the College of Cardinals in 2003 in recognition of his theological work.
Regarding Father Styczeń, a philosopher and ethics scholar who collaborated with John Paul II for many years, Cardinal Nagy laments that he «cannot share with us the enormity of the wealth of his testimony, the result of a life often close to Cardinal Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II.» Father Styczeń died last year.
He was Father Wojtyła’s successor in the Chair of Ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin. He attended Father Wojtyła’s lectures at the Jagiellonian University in Kracow and later followed him to Lublin.
Worthy
The book’s second part is titled «Testimony in Second Plane. A Great Pontificate Seen from Afar.» It contains teachings and testimonies from Cardinal Nagy on the life and activity of John Paul II, published in Niedziela from 1993 to 2010.
The book ends with a chapter on the beginnings of Benedict XVI’s pontificate, whom the author describes as a «worthy successor of John Paul II.»
The publication is completed with photographs from the archives of the cardinal, as well as the archive of the Polish province of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and from the family archive of Father Styczeń.
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On the Net:
A translation of some of Cardinal Nagy’s writings on John Paul II can be found in the Niedziela archives: http://sunday.niedziela.pl/dzial.php?dz=jpii
