Late Pope almost resigned in 2000

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the man who served as the secretary to Pope John Paul II, claims the late pontiff seriously considered resigning in 2000 due to poor health. Cardinal Dziwisz served as a secretary to Pope John Paul for 40 years.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz makes the comments in a new book, "In A Life With Karol," which will be published January 29 initially in Italian and Polish, adding at in 2000 Pope John Paul II had called a meeting to discuss his resignation.

At that meeting, according to Cardinal Dziwisz, Pope John Paul II asked "if even the pope should resign from the post at the age of 80," the age at which cardinals are no longer eligible to elect a new pope. At the time of the meeting, Pope John Paul II was 79, but he had already been suffering from the degenerative effects of Parkinson's for several years.

At the end of the meeting, "he came to the conclusion that he had to submit himself to God's will, that is, to remain as long as God wanted," Cardinal Dziwisz said.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI was also present at that meeting, according to Dziwisz.

Furthermore, Cardinal Dziwisz writes that Pope John Paul II considered changing church law to allow popes to retire when they reached 80 years old.

Elsewhere in the book, Cardinal Dziwisz once again says that he is convinced that it was the Soviet Union that was behind Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca's assassination attempt on Pope John Paul in 1981.

Relatedly, there have been reports that the Vatican could be moving forward on declaring Pope John Paul II a saint in 2008.

"John Paul had already been credited with curing a nun of Parkinson's disease and now it has emerged he has been credited with two other cures, proof of which will confer on him beatification and then canonisation," according to an article in The Sunday Times.

"This weekend the cardinal in charge of the process said he expected the checks performed by the local dioceses on all three miracles to be complete by April.

A formal announcement is expected on April 2, the second anniversary of John Paul's death, and senior Vatican sources expect him to be declared a saint within 18 months."