Posted on 04/07/2005 8:55:52 AM PDT by BigSkyFreeper
The following is an English translation of the official Vatican Italian translation of the text of Pope John Paul II's last will and testament, which was originally written in Polish with successive additions. Dates have been written according to European convention, which makes "6.3.1979" represent March 6, 1979.
The document begins with a Latin phrase that reads, "I am completely in Your hands," and follows with a citation from the New Testament.
The testament of 6.3.1979
Totus Tuus ego sum
In the Name of the Holiest Trinity. Amen.
"Keep watch, because you do not know which day when the Lord will come" - These words remind me of the final call, which will come the moment that the Lord will choose. I desire to follow Him and desire that all that is part of my earthly life shall prepare me for this moment. I do not know when it will come, but, like all else, this moment too I place into the hands of the Mother of My Master: Totus Tuus. In the same maternal hands I place All those with whom my life and vocation are bound. Into these Hands I leave above all the Church, and also my Nation and all humanity. I thank everyone. To everyone I ask forgiveness. I also ask prayers, so that the Mercy of God will loom greater than my weakness and unworthiness.
During spiritual exercises I reflected upon the testament of the Holy Father Paul VI. This study has led me to write the present testament.
I do not leave behind me any property which necessitates disposal. Regarding those items of daily use of which I made use, I ask that they be distributed as may appear opportune. My personal notes are to be burned. I ask that Don Stanislaw oversees this and thank him for the collaboration and help so prolonged over the years and so comprehensive. All other thanks, instead, I leave in my heart before God Himself, because it is difficult to express them.
Regarding the funeral, I repeat the same disposition given by the Holy Father Paul VI: Burial in the bare earth, not in a tomb, 13.3.92.
Apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud Eum redemptio
John Paul pp.II
Rome 6.3.1979
Following my death I ask for Holy Masses and prayers
5.3.1990
---
I express the deepest faith that, despite all my weakness, the Lord will accord me every necessary grace to face, according to His will, whatever task, trial and suffering that will be demanded of His servant, during the course of my life. I also have faith that never will it be permitted that, through my behavior: by words, actions or omissions, I betray my obligations in this holy seat of Peter.
---
24.II-1.III.1980
Also during these spiritual exercises I have reflected upon the truth of the Priesthood of Christ in the perspective of that Crossing which is for each one of us the moment of death. In taking leave of this world - to be born into the other, the future world, eloquent sign is for us the Resurrection of Christ.
I therefore read the copy of my testament of the last year, it also made during spiritual exercises - I compared it with the testament of my great Predecessor and Father Paul VI, with that sublime witness to the death of a Christian and of a pope - and I renewed in myself consciousness of the questions, to which refers the copy of 6.III.1979, prepared by me (in a rather provisional way).
Today I desire to add to it only this, that each one of us must keep in mind the prospect of death. And must be ready to present himself before the Lord and Judge - and contemporaneously Redeemer and Father. Then I too can take this into consideration continuously, entrusting that decisive moment to the Mother of Christ and of the Church - to the Mother of my hope.
The times in which we live are indescribably difficult and troubled. Difficult and tense has become the life of the Church as well, characteristic trial of these times - as much for the Faithful, as much as for the Pastors. In some Countries (as, e.g. in that one about which I was reading during the spiritual exercises), the Church finds itself in a period of persecution that is not inferior to those of the first centuries; on the contrary, the degree of cruelty and hatred is greater still. Sanguis martyrum - semen christianorum (Eds: Latin for "Blood of the martyrs - seeds of Christians"). And beyond this - so many people disappear innocently, even in this Country, in which we live...
I desire once more to entrust myself totally to the mercy of the Lord. He himself will decide when and how I must finish my earthly life and pastoral ministry. In life and in death Totus Tuus through the Immaculate. Accepting this death already, I hope that Christ will give me grace for my final passage, which is Easter. I hope too that it shall be made useful also for this important cause in which I am trying to serve: the salvation of men, the safeguarding of the human family and of all the nations and the peoples (among these I refer in particular to my earthly Country), useful for the persons who in a special way have entrusted to me for the questions of the Church, for the glory of God himself.
I do not desire to add anything to that which I wrote a year ago - only express this readiness and at the same time this faith, to which the present spiritual exercises prepared me.
To prevent forgeries.
I suppose I will need to do a little research on this one, I had no clue he was still on display, wow, interesting post. Thanks.
Thanks for posting this BSF.
It is my understanding that the actual length of the Pope's Last Will and Testament runs about 15 pages in English text and 5 pages in Italian text.
I didn't pose an argument, I made statement(s)..
You made statements, and I made statements, no argument involved..
This is not a chat room and breaking news is not a coffee clatch(usually)..
I'm a right wing extremist, changing my mind is damned near impossible..
I had and have no intention of changing yours..
Stand up and let your shorts resume shape.. have some fun..
Not an order but a suggestion..
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Thu Apr 7, 1:19 PM ET
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By The Associated Press
The following is an English translation of the official Vatican Italian translation of the text of Pope John Paul II's last will and testament, which was originally written in Polish with successive additions. Dates have been written according to European convention, which makes "6.3.1979" represent March 3, 1979.
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The document begins with a Latin phrase that reads, "I am completely in Your hands." It follows with a citation from the New Testament.
The testament of 6.3.1979
Totus Tuus ego sum
In the Name of the Holiest Trinity. Amen.
"Keep watch, because you do not know which day when the Lord will come" — These words remind me of the final call, which will come the moment that the Lord will choose. I desire to follow Him and desire that all that is part of my earthly life shall prepare me for this moment. I do not know when it will come, but, like all else, this moment too I place into the hands of the Mother of My Master: Totus Tuus. In the same maternal hands I place All those with whom my life and vocation are bound. Into these Hands I leave above all the Church, and also my Nation and all humanity. I thank everyone. To everyone I ask forgiveness. I also ask prayers, so that the Mercy of God will loom greater than my weakness and unworthiness.
During spiritual exercises I reflected upon the testament of the Holy Father Paul VI. This study has led me to write the present testament.
I leave no property behind me of which it is necessary to dispose. Regarding those items of daily use of which I made use, I ask that they be distributed as may appear opportune. My personal notes are to be burned. I ask that Don Stanislaw oversees this and thank him for the collaboration and help so prolonged over the years and so comprehensive. All other thanks, instead, I leave in my heart before God Himself, because it is difficult to express them.
Regarding the funeral, I repeat the same disposition given by the Holy Father Paul VI: Burial in the bare earth, not in a tomb, 13.3.92.
Apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud Eum redemptio
John Paul pp.II
Rome 6.3.1979
Following my death I ask for Holy Masses and prayers
5.3.1990
___
I express the deepest faith that, despite all my weakness, the Lord will accord me every necessary grace to face, according to His will, whatever task, trial and suffering that will be demanded of His servant, during the course of my life. I also have faith that never will it be permitted that, through my behavior: by words, actions or omissions, I betray my obligations in this holy seat of Peter.
___
24.II - 1.III.1980
Also during these spiritual exercises I have reflected upon the truth of the Priesthood of Christ in the perspective of that Crossing which is for each one of us the moment of death. In taking leave of this world -- to be born into the other, the future world, eloquent sign is for us the Resurrection of Christ.
I therefore read the copy of my testament of the last year, it also made during spiritual exercises — I compared it with the testament of my great Predecessor and Father Paul VI, with that sublime witness to the death of a Christian and of a pope — and I renewed in myself consciousness of the questions, to which refers the copy of 6.III.1979, prepared by me (in a rather provisional way).
Today I desire to add to it only this, that each one of us must keep in mind the prospect of death. And must be ready to present himself before the Lord and Judge — and contemporaneously Redeemer and Father. Then I too can take this into consideration continuously, entrusting that decisive moment to the Mother of Christ and of the Church — to the Mother of my hope.
The times in which we live are indescribably difficult and troubled. Difficult and tense has become the life of the Church as well, characteristic trial of these times — as much for the Faithful, as much as for the Pastors. In some Countries (as, e.g. in that one about which I was reading during the spiritual exercises), the Church finds itself in a period of persecution that is not inferior to those of the first centuries; on the contrary, the degree of cruelty and hatred is greater still. Sanguis martyrum - semen christianorum. And beyond this — so many people disappear innocently, even in this Country, in which we live ...
I desire once more to entrust myself totally to the mercy of the Lord. He himself will decide when and how I must finish my earthly life and pastoral ministry. In life and in death Totus Tuus through the Immaculate. Accepting this death already, I hope that Christ will give me grace for my final passage, which is Easter. I hope too that it shall be made useful also for this important cause in which I am trying to serve: the salvation of men, the safeguarding of the human family and of all the nations and the peoples (among these I refer in particular to my earthly Country), useful for the persons who in a special way have entrusted to me for the questions of the Church, for the glory of God himself.
I do not desire to add anything to that which I wrote a year ago — only express this readiness and at the same time this faith, to which the present spiritual exercises prepared me.
John Paul II
___
Totus Tuus ego sum
5.III.1982
In the course of the spiritual exercises this year I have read (several times) the text of the testament of 6.III.1979. Notwithstanding that even now it is to be considered as provisional (not definitive), I leave it in its presently existing form. I change (for now) nothing, nor do I add anything, as regards the arrangements contained within it.
The attempt on my life of 13.V.1981 has in some way confirmed the exactness of the words written in the period of the spiritual exercises of 1980 (24.II - 1.III).
All the more profoundly I feel myself totally in the Hands of God — and I remain continually at the disposition of my Lord, entrusting myself to Him and to His Immaculate Mother (Totus Tuus).
John Paul pp. II
___
5.III.1982
In connection with the final phrase of my testament of 6.III.1979 ("About the place/the place, that is, of the funeral/may the College of Cardinals and Compatriots") — I clarify what I had in mind: the metropolitan of Krakow or the General Council of the Bishops of Poland — I ask in the meantime the College of Cardinals to satisfy to the extent possible the eventual questions of the aforementioned.
___
1.III.1985 (during spiritual exercises).
Again — concerning the expression "College of Cardinals and the Compatriots": the "College of Cardinals" has no obligation to consult "the Compatriots" on this question; it can, in any case, do so, if for some reason it considers it right to do so.
JPII
___
The spiritual exercises of the Jubilee year 2000
(12-18.III)
(VATICAN'S NOTATION: "for the will")
1. When, on the day of Oct. 16, 1978, the conclave of cardinals chose John Paul II, the Primate of Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski told me: "The task of the new pope will be to introduce the Church into the Third Millennium." I do not know if I am repeating the phrase exactly, but at least such was the sense of what I heard then. It was said by the Man who has passed into history as the Primate of the Millennium. A great Primate. I was witness to the mission, to His total entrusting of himself. To His struggles; to His victory. "Victory, when it will come, will be a victory through Maria" — these, the words of his Predecessor, Cardinal August Hlond, the Primate of the Millennium was wont to repeat.
In this way I was to some degree prepared for the task which was placed before me on Oct. 16, 1978. As I write these words, the Jubilee Year of 2000 is already a reality, and under way. The night of Dec. 24, 1999, the symbolic Door of the Great Jubilee of the Basilica of St. Peter was opened, and successively that of St. John Lateran, then St. Mary Major's on New Year's Eve; and on Jan. 19, the Door of the Basilica of St. Paul "Outside the Walls." This latter event, given its ecumenical character, has remained particularly engraved in memory.
2. To the degree that the Jubilee Year 2000 goes forward, closing behind us day by day is the 20th century, while the 21st century opens. In accordance with the designs of Providence, it was granted to me to live during the difficult century that is passing, and now, in the year during which my age reaches 80 years ("octogesima adveniens"), it is necessary to ask if it is not the time to repeat the words of the Biblical Simeon, "Nunc dimittis."
On May 13, 1981, the day of the attempt upon the life of the Pope during the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Divine Providence saved me from death in a miraculous way. He who is the sole Savior of life and of death, Himself prolonged this life, and in a certain way gave it to me anew. From this moment it belongs to Him all the more. I hope that He will help me to recognize the time until when I must continue this service, to which he called me on the day of Oct. 16, 1978. I ask (Him) to call me when He wants. "In life and in death we belong to the Lord ... we are of the Lord" (cf Romans 14, 8). I hope too that throughout the time given me to carry out the service of Peter in the Church, the Mercy of God will lend me the necessary strength for this service.
3. As I do every year during spiritual exercises I read my testament from 6-III-1979. I continue to maintain the dispositions contained in this text. What then, and even during successive spiritual exercises, has been added constitutes a reflection of the difficult and tense general situation which marked the '80s. From autumn of the year 1989 this situation changed. The last decade of the century was free of the previous tensions; that does not mean that it did not bring with it new problems and difficulties. In a special way may Divine Providence be praised for this, that the period of the so-called "cold war" ended without violent nuclear conflict, the danger of which weighed on the world in the preceding period.
4. Being on the threshold of the third millennium "in medio Ecclesiae" I wish once again to express gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift of Vatican Council II, to which, together with the entire Church — and above all the entire episcopacy — I feel indebted. I am convinced that for a long time to come the new generations will draw upon the riches that this Council of the 20th century gave us. As a bishop who participated in this conciliar event from the first to the last day, I wish to entrust this great patrimony to all those who are and who will be called in the future to realize it. For my part I thank the eternal Pastor Who allowed me to serve this very great cause during the course of all the years of my pontificate.
"In medio Ecclesiae" ... from the first years of my service as a bishop — precisely thanks to the Council — I was able to experience the fraternal communion of the Episcopacy. As a priest of the Archdiocese of Krakow I experienced the fraternal communion among priests — and the Council opened a new dimension to this experience.
5. How many people should I list! Probably the Lord God has called to Himself the majority of them — as to those who are still on this side, may the words of this testament recall them, everyone and everywhere, wherever they are.
During the more than 20 years that I am fulfilling the Petrine service "in medio Ecclesiae" I have experienced the benevolence and even more the fecund collaboration of so many cardinals, archbishops and bishops, so many priests, so many consecrated persons — brothers and sisters — and, lastly, so very, very many lay persons, within the Curia, in the vicariate of the diocese of Rome, as well as outside these milieux.
How can I not embrace with grateful memory all the bishops of the world whom I have met in "ad limina Apostolorum" visits! How can I not recall so many non-Catholic Christian brothers! And the rabbi of Rome and so many representatives of non-Christian religions! And how many representatives of the world of culture, science, politics, and of the means of social communication!
6. As the end of my life approaches I return with my memory to the beginning, to my parents, to my brother, to the sister (I never knew because she died before my birth), to the parish in Wadowice, where I was baptized, to that city I love, to my peers, friends from elementary school, high school and the university, up to the time of the occupation when I was a worker, and then in the parish of Niegowic, then St. Florian's in Krakow, to the pastoral ministry of academics, to the milieu of ... to all milieux ... to Krakow and to Rome ... to the people who were entrusted to me in a special way by the Lord.
To all I want to say just one thing: "May God reward you."
"In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum."
A.D. 17.III.2000
JOHN PAUL II: TESTAMENT
No. You aren't using Merriam-Webster's definition of worship. You aren't using the English language's definition of worship. I really don't know what to tell you other than that the Catholic church does not worship Mary. We do not see her as a 'god' or above God. She is a person to be respected. She is a person to be looked up to. But she is only a person. She is not divine. We do not pray to her to save us, we ask HER to pray FOR us. Just look at the prayers. In the Hail Mary, it says "Holy Mary, mother of God, PRAY FOR US SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death." In the Our Father, it says "give us this day our daily bread, and FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." If you can not see the difference in this then you are being blinded by your misguided preconceived notions of what Catholicism is.
I understand...
John 2:3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
4; Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.....
I have a few questions...
If Mary was so connected to Jesus, wouldn't she have known it wasn't time?
If he told her it wasn't His time, why did she persist?
How does this show Mary being part of the miracle?
What dog do you have in the "who is orthodox" controversy?
How could a vessel with the Christ in her womb be with sin.
Immaculate Conception.
Appreciate your supportive words.
She would have to be omniscient and omnipresent, or something awfully close to that, in order to deliver on such expectations.
The Psalmist confesses that he was "conceived in sin" -- the confession is NOT about being "gestated in sin." The latter would have no meaning.
**"Keep watch, because you do not know which day when the Lord will come" — These words remind me of the final call, which will come the moment that the Lord will choose.**
Wise words. Good advice.
What Psalmist?
Just an aside here rather than start a whole different thing; I was raised a Southern Baptist in the south way, way back "when". I'm no longer Southern Baptist but that's another story but not because of dogma so much as how best it is for me to worship.
My very best friend, probably the most loyal and knowledgeable Roman Catholic I've ever met, is constantly surprised that while growing up Baptist I never, ever heard anything negative about the Roman Church. Yes, I was taught that there were things that we did that were different and we had different beliefs around the margins, but we were all brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as another aside our Pastor arranged for our Chuch to attend a Latin Mass as they were being done away with. Even though I didn't know everything that was going on it still strikes me, what, 40 years later, as one of the most beautiful ceremonies I've ever experienced.
Further it would be a sin for a Christian to hate a Jew. Obviously we (Christians) had very different views, but we were all children of God and Jews were God's chosen people.
And this was American where we had religious freedom.
So while I do like to debate scripture it's not to denigrate or "win", but to help me understand better, even if eventually after study and meditation I disagree.
So again, I thank you for your time and may the blessings of God be among all faithful people.
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