It should be remembered that the pain has accompanied him since his childhood. He lost his parents and brother very early. He suffered a serious accident when he was hit by a German truck. Many friends died during the war. He suffered in Nazism and then, carrying the burden of responsibility as a bishop, during the communist regime. At the same time, it is necessary to recall in memory the tragic experience of the assassination, which he has already experienced as Pope. The pain that he experienced then hurt not only his body that was close to death. It was also the pain of a man greatly wounded down deep in the depths of his soul, who could not understand why another man directed a gun toward him to kill. Kill the one who has always resisted violence. Any form of it. As he left the Gemelli polyclinic, he said that he was grateful to God for saving his life, but also because God had allowed him to become a part of a community of sick people who were staying with him in hospital. Do we understand that? In those days he felt really sick, he experienced real pain also because he shared it with others. From this experience, the Apostolic letter “Salvifici doloris” was written. The Apostolic letter in which the Holy Father expressed the profound meaning of suffering, taking on a special dimension on the level of faith, if it is lived with Christ crucified and resurrected. Suffering then becomes a spiritual richness for the Church and for the world
With the permission of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “Testimony”.
TBA Publishing House. Warsaw 2007
