Pope John Paul II Letters Allegedly Reveal ‘Intense Relationship’ With Married Woman For More Than 30 Years

Indicators of Pope John Paul II's "intense relationship" with a Polish-born American woman were revealed to BBC News recently. According to reports, the National Library of Poland has concealed hundreds of letters and photographs of the two for years already.

The friendship between Pope John Paul II and philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka started in 1973 when the latter contacted the Pope to ask about a book on philosophy he had written. Tymieniecka even flew to Poland all the way from the United States to talk about the book with the Pope, BBC noted Monday.  

Since then, the two reportedly have been exchanging letters. The friendship grew and led to collaboration for the expanded edition of the cardinal's book called "The Acting Person." Pope John Paul II and Tymieniecka reportedly met on several occasions for the project.

At one point in 1974, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to his friend saying that he has been re-reading four of her letters because they were "so meaningful and deeply personal."

"Here is one of the handful of transcendentally great figures in public life in the 20th Century, the head of the Catholic Church, in an intense relationship with an attractive woman," said Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge University, referring to the pictures of Pope John Paul II with Tymieniecka.

In a letter written in 1976, Pope John Paul II called Tymieniecka a "gift from God." The Pope also expressed his struggle in describing his friendship with the married woman.

"My dear Teresa, I have received all three letters. You write about being torn apart, but I could find no answer to these words," he wrote.

After he was elected by the second Papal conclave in 1978, Pope John Paul II wrote: "I am writing after the event, so that the correspondence between us should continue. I promise I will remember everything at this new stage of my journey."

Over 350 letters reportedly were kept at the National Library of Poland according to senior BBC journalist Edward Stourton.

"I would say they were more than friends but less than lovers," said Stourton, noted by Yahoo! News Tuesday.

"One of the fascinating stories that comes out of these letters is of a struggle to contain what was certainly a very intense relationship which mixed emotions and philosophical ideas in proper Christian boundaries," he added.

A spokesman from the Vatican said: "There was nothing out of the ordinary in the fact that Pope John Paul II had close friendships with different people, whether men or women."

"Nobody will be amazed at this information," the spokesman added.

Pope John Paul II, born Karo Jozef Wojtyla, reportedly has several female friends. However, his friendship with Tymieniecka was different from the rest as the letters would suggest. Nevertheless, these documents do not imply that the Pope broke his vow of celibacy.