Rome, Mar 25: ''Rise up, let us go'', an autobiography by Pope John Paul II, is to be published in Italy and around the world on May 18, his 84th birthday, the Mondadori Publishing House has announced.
Mondadori said the 200-page book, which will be published in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish, is expected to sell millions of copies. Royalties will be devoted to charity, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said yesterday. Details of the manuscript are being kept secret. The book covers 20 years in the life of Karol Wojtyla, from when he was named auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958 to his election as supreme pontiff of the Roman catholic church, in 1978.
''It is a book of memories and intimate thoughts,'' Navarro-Valls said in a press conference in Rome.
The book's title is inspired by a quote by Jesus found in the New Testament - mark 14:42 -: rise up let us go... To meet the enemy and the danger for there is no escaping.''
Navarro-Valls said the manuscript was completed last August and was written by Pope in Polish using a ''direct and straightforward narrative style''.
''Only a few chapters were dictated, the rest were written by Pope himself,'' Navarro-Valls said.
The Vatican spokesman also denied rumours that ''rise up, let us go'' would be the Pope's last literary effort.
The Pope, who is 83-years-old and suffers from Parkinson's disease, has already published several books, including ''crossing the threshold of hope'', which is believed to have sold more than 20 million copies world-wide.
Mondadori, which holds exclusive rights to the book, is owned by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Bureau Report