mortification

Mortifying: Pope John Paul II Whipped Himself For Spiritual Growth

While the world knew the late John Paul II as a cheerful, globe-trotting pontiff -- a "happy warrior," as one biographer put it -- in private the Polish pope used to whip himself with a belt and spend entire nights prostrate on a bare floor in the quest for spiritual growth, according to a new book based on accounts from those closest to John Paul. Msgr. Slawomir Oder, who is leading the church investigation that will decide whether John Paul should be declared a saint, told a Rome news conference on Tuesday that the pope, who died in 2005, used self-mortification "both to affirm the primacy ...

 22 

Comments

SHARE