Pope Finishing New Book, Vatican Says

Pope John Paul II is almost finished a new book that will focus on a conversation he once had with a popular Polish philosopher and essayist, a Vatican official said. The Pope has thought about his 1984 meeting with the late Jozef Tischner frequently, said the Rev. Pawel Ptasznik, the chief of the Polish section at the Vatican. "Over the years the Holy Father has returned to those thoughts and worked on them to this day," Ptasznik said in remarks released Friday by the Catholic Information Agency, which is owned by the Polish church. "It appears that the work has matured for publication." Ptasznik said there was no release date and the book would not be published soon. He gave no title for the new volume. Tischner was a best-selling author in Poland and was known for explaining philosophical issues in a simple manner. A Roman Catholic, he died in 2000.