Following is the letter of the Italian journalist Manfredo Ferrari, who had the chance to meet twice with Pope John Paul II, sent to novinite.com. Considering the considerable knowledge and experience of Mr. Ferrari, the editors of novinite.com asked him about his opinion on the coming visit of Pope John Paul II to Bulgaria. Mr. Ferrari was very kind to reply to us.
Dear editor,
Following are my answers to your questions, as I can do it as a former journalist at the Vatican (...and as some Media wrote... the former "Agent of the Pope", what I never was, but I made special missions to Cuba, Libya and Iraq. I was the man who brought the answer of Pres. Saddam Hussein to the Pope, during the first bombings of Baghdad. I was a friend of his former Private Secretary, Mons. Emery Kabongo who is now Archbishop in a Diocese in the Republic of Kongo.
For this reason I had two times the chance to speak to Pope John Paul II. These meetings were the most impressing moments of my life. I have met many people (Gheddafi, etc.) but never I had the same impression as I met the first time the Pope in his Summer Residence in Castelgandolfo (July 27, 1984). Pope John Paul II is a very special person. He is profoundly interested to know what his actual discussion partner is working, where he comes from.
He is not at all fixed on political views. For example one of his closest friends in Rome was Sandro Pertini, as he was President of the Republic of Italy. Pertini was agnostic and not catholic. He was a man of the political left wing (Socialist). Nevertheless they had (walking in the woods) long talks about life and society. Pertini was the first person to visit John Paul II in the Gemelli Hospital (...as he was the only one who would be allowed to) after the assassination attempt on St. Peter's Square. Until his death Pertini was one of the most loved talking partners of the Pope.
I knew Mother Teresa very well and I made interviews and pictures with her. A bishop of Slovakia, friend of John Paul II, Mgr. Pavel Hnilica, asked her once, why she did not open a home for poor people in Rome. Mother Teresa was somehow afraid to do so, as for ecclesiastic law the bishop of the diocese concerned has to give the o.k. for the opening of such an institution. So she asked Hnilica (a jesuit) to do this for her.
The Pope was extremely happy as he saw the chance to see and to talk to Mother Teresa. In the meantime several homes have been opened in Rome. Knowing the "shyness" of Mother Teresa, the Pope ordered that each ecclesiastic person who sees Mother Teresa in Rome to immediately to report this to his First Secretary, Mons. (Bishop) Stanislaw Dzwisz. He never wanted to miss to talk to her.
Once it happened to me, that one of her sisters in Rome asked me to call Dziwisz for this reason and I can tell you that my heart seldom has beaten as much as during these minutes on the phone... Dziwisz is the secretary who has worked with Karol Woityla as he was bishop and later cardinal. He is somehow the "spiritual body guard" of the Pope, a great man, but also very powerful. Without him the Pope would never had survived in the (complicated) structure of the Vatican. The same thing is to tell about the Popes closest friend in the Vatican, Cardinal Andrй Marie DESKUR. He is a school friend of the Pope and eats every Sunday at the Papal Suite. Once he told me that the only reason for this frequent meetings are, that the Pope wants to hear the latest jokes they tell in Rome about Priests, Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope. He told me that the Pope is an ideal person to tell jokes and that is laughing as loud that the sisters hear it in the rooms beside... Deskur was ill, as the Pope was elected in 1978. He had a stroke and could not walk any more since that time. After the election of a Pope, as the tradition wants, he has to "take property" of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, the former home of the Popes. But Karol Woityla wanted to go to visit first his close friend. So he made the first "faux pas" as he asked the Cardinals assembled, if the give him the "absolution" to leave the Vatican. So he made his first visit abroad from the Vatican, visiting a poor, paralysed school friend in the Gemelli Hospital... where 3 years later he had to spend his own time to recover from the assassination attempt. This story was told to me by Cardinal Deskur in the year 2000, just a few days before the Pope's 80th birthday.
Now to the questions you asked me. Please note, that they are my personal view of the things, after 17 years of experience with the Vatican Institutions:
Q: What are the expectations in the Vatican concerning the Papal visit to Bulgaria?
A: I think that this visit has been personally asked by the Pope and was on his agenda for many, many years. Due to the critical situation between the Orthodox Churches (of the whole world) and the Vatican, this visit had to be postponed. After his visit to Romania, where he had an immense success and due to many private meetings with Orthodox officials, the time had come to visit a country with a smaller number of Catholics. You have to consider, that the Pope makes a Pastoral Visit and not a political journey. For this reason the bishops of a country have to ask first for this visit. Then the heads of a state will be "asked" to invite the Pope. This is often done during informal meetings of the Vatican Ambassador (Nunzio Apostolico) or/and the bishops of the country. Then the invitation will often be brought personally by the Head of State, during a formal visit in Italy. So it happened, I think, also in the case of Bulgaria. I think, that the Vatican expects that this visit will help to melt the ice between the Orthodox Churches, especially in Russia. They are simple "misunderstandings", but they lasted for centuries. They are more political then spiritual. There is no closer spiritual tie between two churches as between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, but a lot of "power struggle"... as no one likes to submit himself to the other institution. The visit of John Paul II is a good chance to the Vatican to show his good will in getting better relations between Rome, Athens, Constantinople and Moscow. I think neither the Vatican nor Bulgaria had a better time plan and execute the visit now. The time had to come for such an important meeting and time is the best consultant in delicate matters.
Q: Do you think that the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church will be improved following the visit of the Pope to Bulgaria?
A: As a matter of fact all talks between the churches are eased by talks that are made in a friendly atmosphere. It will be the same in your country. The Pope is a great communicator. Just being in front of him, makes you feel good. He gives importance to every person in front of him. He has nothing "papal" in his behaviour. He is very direct and as his health was better, you saw him always smiling. His attitude and his openness will ease every difficulty between the two denominations (as Christian churches are named). His collaborators, Card. Angelo Sodano in first line, are great diplomats and well-informed people. They will help to go into the details and the will help to solve them during his presence. For this reason this visit is so important not only for your country but also for your Orthodox Church.
Q: In your opinion, will the Papal visit have positive influence on Bulgaria's image abroad?
A: When the Pope visits a country, all important media are pointing on the spot he is staying. For this reason the visit will have a very important role for your country. Your politicians have made a great effort to bring Bulgaria closer to Europe. You have elected the former king as Prime Minister. This is in the political view one of the most fascinating moments in history. You have joined the Monarchy with the Democracy in a way the world has never seen. For me, this has a "model character" for other countries with similar constellations (Albania, Serbia, etc.). I hope that the media will point on this exceptional experiment in the right way. It is really the facts that a "ruling monarch", the Pope is visiting a former monarchy where the former king has become the head of a democratic system. Nevertheless it will be a great chance for Bulgaria to show to the world that is close to enter into the European Community as it has shown during the Kossovo Crisis to be a reliable partner to the West.
Q: Will the Papal visit put an end to the speculations for the so-called Bulgarian connection in the unsuccessful assassination attempt on the Pope? In terms of that how important, in your opinion, is the visit for the Pope himself?
A: I would not like to talk too much about this case, as somehow I was involved in some research work in this matter. I personally know the men who organised this horrible act of violence (Oral Celik, chief of the Turkish right wing group "Grey Wolves"). I was in the hometown of Ali Agca (Malatya) two days before he left his Italian prison to be transferred to Istanbul and I have brought a notice and a little gift to his mother. I spoke to many friends of Oral Celik who is the chief of the local Sokker Team and still free, after he had been jailed in France, Italy and Switzerland. I cannot imagine that such a right wing man and a professional killer, like Ali Agca had contacts with the Bulgarians in Rome. But this is my own view, based on 15 years of research work, together with my friend Andrea Tornielli, one of the best journalist in Italy (Il Giornale, Milan, Newspaper of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi) who has even better contacts to the Vatican them me. I do not think that Bulgaria was anyhow involved in this matter and your Ambassador to the Holy See did well to talk the same way. The whole thing will remain a mystery, to be revealed in the next century...
Q: Have you had personal meeting with the Pope? If yes, what impressed you most from that meeting?
A: I had two meetings with the Pope and always when I think at these moments I feel like being already in Heaven. It is the feeling that John Paul II gives you when you are close to him. I remember my first meeting in his summer residence of Castelgandolfo. I had helped a young student of the former Zaire to enter legally into Switzerland and to study there. He knew the Second Private Secretary of the Pope. My human gesture (that never did cost me more than a few dollars for stamps and phone calls) had impressed Mons. Kabongo and he wanted to present me to the Pope. At the same time I had edited Audi Tapes of three speeches of John Paul II he made during his visit to Switzerland. So I had the chance to give him the 3 copies. I will never forget these minutes in the Audience Hall. I do not remember other that my tears where running and I felt like to be in "another dimension". Only after looking at the pictures Arturo Mari, the Pope's Photographer had made of us, I saw that John Paul II had held my arm, somehow "meditating" who this man in front of him was. He had seen that I knew his secretary, but he had never seen me before. The second time I met him as I was Secretary General of the Swiss Pro Life Movement. I realised that he remembered me after all this time and I was even more impressed as the first time. As an Italian I talked to him in Italian but he answered in German, as I had spoken to him in Castelgandolfo 8 years earlier. The Pope is well known for his incredible memory. I had heard many time of this fact, but I was "shocked" as it happened to myself.
Q: How would you comment on the recent reports that the Pope might quit due to health reasons?
A: The Pope has been elected for lifetime and he knows this very well. He would be the first person to ask for his own resignation if he would feel that he is not more able to hold this immense burden of spiritual and material work. As I heard from people close to him, he has written a paper asking for his own resignation if he would be (physically or/and psychologically) not more able to do it himself. He is a man with an incredible great sense of responsibility. He delegates all the daily work to his collaborators, but all the important matters he treats them himself. He even writes his important speeches, on his knees in his private chapel, in front of the Holy Sacrament. I do know hundreds of Bishops and Cardinals, but none who would do this like him. (Note: This information I have received from his closest friend, Cardinal Deskur and I believe that a school friend of him would not tell me lies). All the people I know who have visited him personally during the last month tell me, that he has a "shocking lucidity" when he spoke to them. This man is suffering as Jesus Christ was suffering on his Cross. As Jesus did, he wants to take this burden until the end of his own history. As a Catholic I believe that the God will give him the spiritual power and the health to work until his last minute. Otherwise we would have to consider him a simple "General Manager" of the Catholic Church. Please don't forget that every day maybe one million of people are praying for the Pope during the Holy Masses, as the official texts ask for. I believe in the power of the prayer... and if millions are praying for the Pope, how could he resign?
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