0:00:02 > 0:00:06In 1978, a Polish cardinal was elected the first
0:00:06 > 0:00:09non-Italian pope for nearly half a millennium.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Pope John Paul II ruled the Catholic Church for 27 years.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20It's a Church which requires its priests to be celibate
0:00:20 > 0:00:24and he took a tough traditional line on marriage and divorce.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26But he had a private side.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30"I think it's good you sent your letter by hand.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33"It contains things too deep for the censor's eyes."
0:00:34 > 0:00:37The Pope was writing to a married woman.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40They were close for more than three decades
0:00:40 > 0:00:42yet the extent of her role in the life
0:00:42 > 0:00:46of one of the most famous men in history has remained largely hidden.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50I do believe she completely fell in love with him.
0:00:50 > 0:00:51Tonight, for the first time,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Panorama reveals the hundreds of letters and photos
0:00:54 > 0:00:57that tell the story of John Paul's closeness
0:00:57 > 0:01:00with Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01The scoop of the century!
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Here is one of the handful of transcendentally great figures
0:01:05 > 0:01:08in public life in the 20th century,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11the head of the Catholic Church,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14in an intense relationship with an attractive woman.
0:01:15 > 0:01:16Wow!
0:01:17 > 0:01:21The letters have been hidden away in a Polish archive for years
0:01:21 > 0:01:24and part of the story is still being covered up.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Her disappearance from the scene is almost like a...you know,
0:01:29 > 0:01:34a Soviet-style, you know, rubbing individuals out of the photograph.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36It really is quite extraordinary.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48This woman's story is one that you might never have been told.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54They were married in the mid-'50s in California.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56It's wonderfully characteristic of the date, isn't it?
0:01:56 > 0:01:59- Yes, it is, it is. - Stunning wedding dress.- Yes, yes.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02- And he's wearing a bow tie, isn't he? Yes, he is.- Yes.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Professor Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka was a writer and philosopher.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10She grew up in Poland but emigrated to the United States,
0:02:10 > 0:02:15where she married and had three children.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17'She died two years ago.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21'The Smiths became her firm friends and are her executors.'
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Our first impressions were that she was a towering intellectual.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31She considered herself a very important philosopher.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34There were very few women in the field of philosophy.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38- And she was used to getting her own way?- She was.- Yes.- She was.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40There's no doubt about that.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45In 1973, she wrote to this man, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47then Archbishop of the Polish city of Krakow,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and later to become Pope John Paul II.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52She admired a book of philosophy he'd written,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56so she took off to Poland to meet him.
0:02:56 > 0:02:57I'm still struck by...
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It was quite a thing, wasn't it, I mean, to get on a plane?
0:03:00 > 0:03:03- Was that...?- That was not unusual for her...- Not at all.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05..to get on a plane and do something like this.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06This was part of her character.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09That's the way she tackled everything.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13That trip was the beginning of a relationship which
0:03:13 > 0:03:15lasted for more than 30 years.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20The story is told in a huge cache of letters John Paul sent to her.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23They've never been seen publically before.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28This is a picture that she had, near her bed, of Cardinal Wojtyla.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33In 2008, Anna-Teresa decided to sell the letters,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and they were bought by the National Library of Poland for what
0:03:36 > 0:03:39we think was a seven-figure sum.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Usually, when a library buys a really important archive
0:03:42 > 0:03:44about a figure of John Paul's stature,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46you'd expect a bit of a fanfare and the letters would be
0:03:46 > 0:03:49put on display and made available to scholars.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53These simply disappeared and it took months - years, indeed -
0:03:53 > 0:03:55of digging around to track them down.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59And if we hadn't knocked on the door of Poland's National Library
0:03:59 > 0:04:01and negotiated to see them,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04they might have stayed hidden for many years to come.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10The letters from Cardinal Wojtyla begin on a formal note.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16"Dear and esteemed professor, thank you very much for the article
0:04:16 > 0:04:19"The Three Dimensions Of Phenomenology."
0:04:20 > 0:04:24But the following year, when he wrote to her from Rome,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27he dropped her formal title and reversed her name.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29"Droga Tereso-Anno...
0:04:29 > 0:04:32"Dear Teresa-Anna, I would like to respond to four letters that
0:04:32 > 0:04:34"I received in July.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37"I have kept them and brought them with me to Rome.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41"I am reading them again as they are so meaningful and deeply personal."
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Eugene Kisluk is a New York-based consultant who
0:04:47 > 0:04:49advised on the sale of the letters.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54It is the first informal letter that he wrote to her.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57There's certainly intimacy established here in this letter.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02The tone of the letters change depending on where
0:05:02 > 0:05:04they were written.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Any letter Cardinal Wojtyla sent from Krakow was likely to
0:05:07 > 0:05:09be read by the secret police.
0:05:10 > 0:05:151970s Poland was a Communist state and the Church was the enemy.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17- TRANSLATION:- His every step was watched.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20They installed wiretaps in his flat and his telephone was bugged.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Every letter he received was intercepted and checked,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26both private and official.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30So, some of the letters were delivered by hand,
0:05:30 > 0:05:32often by the nuns who worked for the Cardinal.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40He and Anna-Teresa agreed to work together on a new expanded
0:05:40 > 0:05:41version of his book.
0:05:43 > 0:05:44They met several times a year
0:05:44 > 0:05:48and their correspondence became frequent.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Sometimes, they wrote just after seeing each other.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55"I was very happy to see you yesterday...
0:05:55 > 0:05:59"I'd like to talk to you tomorrow, November 6th, at 4.30pm...
0:05:59 > 0:06:02"It's good we could talk on the phone before you went to America...
0:06:02 > 0:06:04"Despite the distance, it's a conversation...
0:06:04 > 0:06:07"PS, thank you very much for yesterday."
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Their relationship was on two planes. One was intellectual.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14The other one was personal and very emotional.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20They became very close to each other on both levels, in fact.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23And it was also very difficult for them to separate the two.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Of course, the library only showed me his letters to her.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32I haven't seen Anna-Teresa's letters and reading Karol Wojtyla's
0:06:32 > 0:06:36on their own is a bit like reading a novel with half the pages torn out.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39But I do understand that, in the summer of 1975,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43so almost exactly two years after they first met,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Anna-Teresa sat down on a park bench by the city walls of Krakow
0:06:47 > 0:06:51and wrote what one can really only describe as a love letter.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54She said that she desired to be in his arms
0:06:54 > 0:06:56and remain there in happiness.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00And she apologised for the fact that she had not yet managed to
0:07:00 > 0:07:02control her feelings and that yet, of course, is important
0:07:02 > 0:07:05because it means that the matter had been discussed before.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09The library denies the letter exists, but his subsequent letters
0:07:09 > 0:07:13show a struggle to keep the relationship in Christian bounds.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19The Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein got some
0:07:19 > 0:07:22sense of Anna-Teresa's importance in Karol Wojtyla's life
0:07:22 > 0:07:24when he interviewed her in the 1990s.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28But she batted one of his questions away.
0:07:29 > 0:07:35I finally said, "Were you in love with the Cardinal?"
0:07:35 > 0:07:38She said, "No, I never fell in love with the Cardinal.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42"To fall in love with a clergyman - there could be no success at all!"
0:07:42 > 0:07:44And I said, "No romantic feelings?"
0:07:44 > 0:07:47She said, "This question - it doesn't really apply.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49"How can you ask me such a silly question?"
0:07:51 > 0:07:54The evidence we have now from the archive shows it was anything
0:07:54 > 0:07:56but a silly question.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59I do believe she completely fell in love with him
0:07:59 > 0:08:02during the first phase of their relationship.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06I think that it's completely reflected in the correspondence.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Marsha Malinowski negotiated the sale of the letters.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15For her to fall in love with him is completely understandable to me.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18He was handsome, he was powerful,
0:08:18 > 0:08:23he was on a track that was extraordinary, he was Polish.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27How could you not be taken with all that charm in one person?
0:08:29 > 0:08:34Karol Wojtyla had mixed freely with women as a teenager and a young man.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37He'd also formed a friendship with a psychiatrist called
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Wanda Poltawska, whom he wrote to often until his death.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46But the training for Catholic clergy when he became a priest was rigid.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50A perception was that even if you had a close association,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52a friendship, with a woman,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56this could be what was known as an "occasion of sin".
0:08:56 > 0:09:02And an occasion of sin was as bad as if you had actually done it.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05That training meant most priests would have been wary of such
0:09:05 > 0:09:07a close relationship.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10The most natural reaction would have been for him
0:09:10 > 0:09:16to terminate contact because, after all, the positions that they
0:09:16 > 0:09:19were in, he was a prince of the Church,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21someone that took vows of celibacy,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25and someone in his position would probably just withdraw completely.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31He didn't. Instead, he later wrote to her, "God gave you to me
0:09:31 > 0:09:36"and made you my vocation." And he let their friendship grow.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39He invited Anna-Teresa to join him on country walks or
0:09:39 > 0:09:43skiing holidays, all documented in the new photos we've been given.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Clearly, there's an element of playing with fire
0:09:48 > 0:09:50when you've got a strongly heterosexual man
0:09:50 > 0:09:54and an attractive woman in a very intense relationship
0:09:54 > 0:09:57that is cultivated
0:09:57 > 0:10:02and which engages mind at a high level of intensity.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05There's danger everywhere.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10There's nothing in the letters to suggest that Cardinal Wojtyla
0:10:10 > 0:10:15ever broke his vow of celibacy. He was a man known for his iron will.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18But it's also clear he wanted to keep the relationship going.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23It's quite fragile.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'We've discovered he gave Anna-Teresa
0:10:25 > 0:10:27'one of his most treasured possessions...'
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I suppose it's a holy relic.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31It is absolutely a holy relic.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35'..an item of devotional clothing known as a scapular.'
0:10:35 > 0:10:39- And it's Our Lady, isn't it?- Yes, it is.
0:10:39 > 0:10:45It has to be one of the only true possessions the Cardinal had
0:10:45 > 0:10:47to give away.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52'He'd been given it by his father, who died when Karol Wojtyla was 20.'
0:10:52 > 0:10:53Thousands, possibly millions,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57of Catholics over the centuries wore it.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01I did myself when I was a teenager in Ireland.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Obviously, for Wojtyla, it's associated with his father.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10It's a garment he wore next to the skin, under his clothing,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12so it's a very intimate gesture.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16The gift puts the strength of his attachment to
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Anna-Teresa beyond doubt.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Over the years, he mentions the scapular ten times.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26"Last year, I was trying to find an answer to the words
0:11:26 > 0:11:28"'I belong to you.'
0:11:28 > 0:11:32"Finally, before leaving Poland, I found a way - a scapular."
0:11:33 > 0:11:35He said it allowed him to...
0:11:35 > 0:11:39"..accept and feel you everywhere in all kinds of situations,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41"whether you are close or far away."
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Anna-Teresa played an important role
0:11:47 > 0:11:49in his public as well as his private life.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52BELLS TOLL
0:11:55 > 0:11:57In 1976,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Cardinal Wojtyla visited the United States for a Catholic conference.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Anna-Teresa was determined to raise his profile.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Her husband, Hendrik Houthakker, was a Harvard academic
0:12:10 > 0:12:13and had all the right political connections.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18The American cardinals Karol Wojtyla met would later help elect him pope.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25I think her impact on his career is beyond amazing.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30She was able to introduce him to all the most important people in
0:12:30 > 0:12:36the United States, and I think that that was of enormous importance.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Anna-Teresa invited Cardinal Wojtyla to stay with her
0:12:41 > 0:12:45family at their country home outside a New England town called Pomfret.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51It was just the sort of outdoor life the Cardinal enjoyed.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54She told a local journalist about the visit many years afterwards.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59He was relaxing and enjoying nature.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05He was walking and sunning himself on the meadow,
0:13:05 > 0:13:10picking white berries, swimming.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14The photos we've been given suggest the future pope
0:13:14 > 0:13:17was at his most relaxed.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20He and Anna-Teresa went walking in the woods.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24It appears she told him of her feelings again
0:13:24 > 0:13:27because his letters afterwards suggest a man struggling
0:13:27 > 0:13:29to make sense of what she said in Christian terms.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35"My dear Teresa, I have received all three letters...
0:13:35 > 0:13:37"You write about being torn apart
0:13:37 > 0:13:40"but I could find no answer to these words..."
0:13:42 > 0:13:46The letter wrestles intensely with the meaning of the relationship.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49He justifies it by telling her she's a gift from God.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55"If I didn't have this conviction, some moral certainty of grace
0:13:55 > 0:13:59"and of acting in obedience to it, I would not dare act like this."
0:14:03 > 0:14:09Many priests deal with celibacy by forming strong attachments to
0:14:09 > 0:14:15women who are in some ways safe, who are in stable marriages and,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19therefore, they're not going to ask for marriage,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22they're not going to ask that you leave the priesthood.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26But those relationships are often exploitative of the woman.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30They make excessive emotional demands on the woman
0:14:30 > 0:14:35and they're often extremely unjust to the other partner,
0:14:35 > 0:14:41who is being deprived of that kind of intensity with their spouse.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45The work on the book went on.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49She'd leave her family behind several times a year to see him.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Some of his letters are full of intimacy.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57"I decided that I would only answer when I am here in Rome.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58"When I am in Krakow,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01"I cannot answer the way I want for obvious reasons.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03"This is the reason for the conciseness...
0:15:03 > 0:15:06"Today I heard your voice when you called from Warsaw.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09"The telephone has the advantage that I can hear your voice,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11"but it doesn't last long enough,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14"so it cannot replace a letter or a real conversation."
0:15:22 > 0:15:23- ARCHIVE:- 'A pope has been elected.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26'The Vatican balcony becomes the centre of attention.'
0:15:26 > 0:15:29No-one expected a pope from outside Italy in October 1978.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Karol Wojtyla was suddenly catapulted into one
0:15:34 > 0:15:37of the most high-profile positions in the world.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42He still found time that week to write personal letters
0:15:42 > 0:15:45among the one to Anna-Teresa.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47"I am writing after the event so that
0:15:47 > 0:15:50"a correspondence between us should continue...
0:15:50 > 0:15:52"I promise I will remember everything
0:15:52 > 0:15:54"at this new stage of my journey."
0:15:57 > 0:16:00'Anna-Teresa had something different on her mind.'
0:16:00 > 0:16:01A telegram...
0:16:01 > 0:16:04'On the day of John Paul's election,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06'she asked her publishers to rush out the book
0:16:06 > 0:16:08'they'd been working on.'
0:16:08 > 0:16:12"Take immediately book in production. Introduction follows."
0:16:12 > 0:16:15She wanted to move forward with that book, fast-forward it.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- And it's sent to her publishers in the Netherlands?- Mm-hm.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23But the Vatican mounted a legal challenge to The Acting Person,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25as the book was called.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27It wasn't just an argument about the way she'd changed it.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31It was about protecting the Pope's status.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35The notion that another person had, in fact, been
0:16:35 > 0:16:41the author of a very important document and,
0:16:41 > 0:16:42of all persons, a woman,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46would have been quite extraordinary and unacceptable.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51The lawsuit took years and the relationship cooled.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Anna-Teresa wanted the Pope to stick up for her,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56and when he didn't, she felt betrayed.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01But even as he crisscrossed the world, he kept sending her cards
0:17:01 > 0:17:04at Christmas, Easter and on St Teresa's Day.
0:17:10 > 0:17:11May 1981.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15John Paul is hit four times in an assassination attempt.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18- NEWSREADER:- 'Shots were fired at the Pope,
0:17:18 > 0:17:19'and he's been seriously wounded.'
0:17:19 > 0:17:21'Pope John Paul II has been shot.'
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Anna-Teresa heard the news at home, and dropped everything.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28"I am overwhelmed by sadness and anxiety,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31"and want desperately to be close to you.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35"I arrive on Saturday, and my phone number is..."
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The letters tell us she was one of the few allowed into see John Paul
0:17:38 > 0:17:40as he recovered from surgery.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Eventually, the old warmth returned,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47and she began visiting him again -
0:17:47 > 0:17:51sometimes with her children, sometimes alone.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54She would be in Rome and he would call and say,
0:17:54 > 0:17:55can you come for supper?
0:17:55 > 0:17:59And the Polish nuns would prepare very good little dinners
0:17:59 > 0:18:01in his private dining room, very simple.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05And did she feel that the Vatican resented the way she could...
0:18:05 > 0:18:07come in and out of his life like that?
0:18:07 > 0:18:10- Yes.- I think so. Yes. Yes.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12FANFARE
0:18:12 > 0:18:14John Paul was a famously conservative pope.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19The growing number of divorces...
0:18:20 > 0:18:23The scourge of abortion...
0:18:23 > 0:18:27He also opposed relaxing the celibacy rule for priests.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33But we now know that he was enjoying a close companionship himself.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36As he aged, he and Anna-Teresa
0:18:36 > 0:18:39continued to trade ideas on philosophy.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42She'd also send photos and pressed flowers
0:18:42 > 0:18:44from her country home in Pomfret.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50More than a dozen of his letters look back to his time there in 1976.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54"I often wonder what is happening
0:18:54 > 0:18:56"beyond the ocean in Pomfret.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58"How you live. I am thinking about you,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01"and in my thoughts I come to Pomfret every day."
0:19:04 > 0:19:08I think he was very emotionally dependent on her,
0:19:08 > 0:19:09for a couple of reasons.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12I think his life was so isolated as he got older,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14and he was ailing.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17And there weren't really that many people who he could really talk with
0:19:17 > 0:19:18and could reminisce with.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21To feel as if he was a real human being,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24not just this pope who was in captivity.
0:19:24 > 0:19:30When people think about the celibacy of the Catholic clergy,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34they immediately think about the sexual dimension of it.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Priests who've discussed it with me have invariably said
0:19:38 > 0:19:42that the issue is loneliness, the lack of relationship -
0:19:42 > 0:19:44they NEED to love somebody.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50Anna-Teresa believed her role went beyond providing emotional support.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54She was convinced she had a powerful influence on his thinking.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56When we're talking about her
0:19:56 > 0:20:00influence on him philosophically, she says, "As I see it,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03"this pontificate is run by my ideas."
0:20:03 > 0:20:05And she says, "Many of his other
0:20:05 > 0:20:07"philosophical ideas of this pontificate,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10"he has been, if not inspired,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12"at least in complete agreement with me."
0:20:13 > 0:20:16'Stanislaw Obirek is a former Jesuit priest
0:20:16 > 0:20:19'from John Paul's home city of Krakow.'
0:20:19 > 0:20:21It's a real paradox, isn't it?
0:20:21 > 0:20:24He related to her as an equal intellectually,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27and yet, in the way he ran the Church,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29he was quite dismissive, one might almost say,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33- of the role of women. - Yes, this is very paradoxical.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Tymieniecka was one of many women important in his life.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38I cannot understand
0:20:38 > 0:20:40why he was so conservative
0:20:40 > 0:20:42on the doctrinal level
0:20:42 > 0:20:44and so human, so liberal, so open
0:20:44 > 0:20:45on the personal level.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49- NEWSREADER:- 'The Vatican has just announced the
0:20:49 > 0:20:51'death of His Holiness...'
0:20:51 > 0:20:54'He was 84, and his papal reign was the third-longest...'
0:20:54 > 0:20:57John Paul II died in April 2005.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Almost immediately, the process of
0:20:59 > 0:21:03writing Anna-Teresa out of history began.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Her friends say she was at his bedside the day before she died.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08But you won't find any mention of that
0:21:08 > 0:21:11in the Vatican account of his last hours.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16One of the things that the Catholic Church most fears is scandal.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The idea that the Pope had a woman friend
0:21:18 > 0:21:21must have been appalling to his entourage,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25and I would think they would have been very glad to...
0:21:25 > 0:21:29bundle her out of sight at the first opportunity.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36As Anna-Teresa disappeared, the pressure built to give John Paul
0:21:36 > 0:21:38an even more elevated status.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45At his funeral, thousands chanted "Santo subito" - "Sainthood now".
0:21:47 > 0:21:51John Paul's sainthood was pushed for by this man.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz was John Paul's secretary for 40 years.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59The photos and letters show
0:21:59 > 0:22:01he witnessed their relationship at first hand.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06But she's not mentioned at all in his biography of the Pope.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Just like John Paul,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Stanislaw Dziwisz became the Archbishop of Krakow.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15His authority, his personal stature
0:22:15 > 0:22:17are intimately connected with
0:22:17 > 0:22:18those of John Paul II, so he has to
0:22:18 > 0:22:20keep this relationship going
0:22:20 > 0:22:22in the public mind.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25He and the Polish bishops used all their clout
0:22:25 > 0:22:27to put pressure on the Vatican.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30He said, within a year of the Pope's death, that he felt that
0:22:30 > 0:22:34in John Paul II's case, because his sanctity was so obvious,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37that perhaps it might be possible to go straight for canonisation.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40So, it was a kind of ecclesiastical version
0:22:40 > 0:22:42of what one might call pester power.
0:22:45 > 0:22:46The Vatican department
0:22:46 > 0:22:48called the Congregation For The Causes Of Saints
0:22:48 > 0:22:50decides who is a saint.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54It asks to see anything a candidate has ever written,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56public and private, to be sure of their holiness.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01The process has traditionally lasted decades, or even centuries.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06John Paul's was completed in just nine years -
0:23:06 > 0:23:08the fastest in modern times.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Anna-Teresa sold her letters in 2008,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15when the process was well under way.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19What was that decision based on?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21She wanted to make sure that
0:23:21 > 0:23:24there was necessary funding for her family.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27How did the Church hierarchy react?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Well, I think the Church hierarchy was quite upset.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35And she did receive a very disturbing phone call
0:23:35 > 0:23:42from, er, one of the Pope's most ardent and closest supporters,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45and he castigated her on the phone.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48This is someone whom she considered a friend.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53And it was, uh, it was very, very upsetting for her.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58There's a question mark over whether the letters were seen
0:23:58 > 0:24:01by those responsible for John Paul's canonisation,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03as they certainly should have been.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Because they went straight from Anna-Teresa to the National Library
0:24:06 > 0:24:09in Warsaw, where they were kept under lock and key.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11The Vatican was coy when we asked.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14The man in charge of the canonisation would only tell us
0:24:14 > 0:24:16that it's up to individual Catholics
0:24:16 > 0:24:18to decide whether to send in documents,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21and said, quote, "All our duties were done."
0:24:23 > 0:24:25The National Library of Poland wouldn't say anything at all
0:24:25 > 0:24:28when we asked if the letters had been sent to the Vatican.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33So there's no confirmation they were examined before he became a saint.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36I think had they been known about,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41they would have presented a problem for the canonisation process
0:24:41 > 0:24:43and they might well have meant that it was halted.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46I don't think they'd have been a long-term barrier.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48I think they would have made a difference to the speed,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50which, in my view, was unseemly.
0:24:52 > 0:24:53The National Library of Poland
0:24:53 > 0:24:56dispute that this was a unique relationship.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58They say it was one of many warm friendships
0:24:58 > 0:25:00the Pope enjoyed throughout his life.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04So why, then, does one piece of this story remain buried?
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Anna-Teresa's letters to John Paul.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15I'd assumed that all of the letters in the archive
0:25:15 > 0:25:17here in the National Library in Warsaw
0:25:17 > 0:25:21were Karol Wojtyla's letters to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23and that hers to him would have been lost.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27But it turns out that they were, in fact, included in the archive
0:25:27 > 0:25:29that was given to the National Library.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31In fact, she kept copies of everything she sent.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35So, what's actually over there is - or should be -
0:25:35 > 0:25:38a full set of the correspondence, both sides of it.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Pope John Paul told Anna-Teresa
0:25:42 > 0:25:44that parts of her letters were like pearls,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46worthy of being published.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50So, we asked - several times - to see her letters to John Paul.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53The Polish National Library bought the copyright for them,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55but won't tell us where they are,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57and threatened to sue us if we so much as quoted them.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04To criticise today Holy John Paul II
0:26:04 > 0:26:06is almost unthinkable.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11Stanislaw Obirek's experience may help explain that sensitivity.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13He was silenced by the Church in Poland
0:26:13 > 0:26:17after he criticised John Paul mildly at the time of his death.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Poland's newly elected government is also nationalist and pro-Catholic.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Do you think things have changed?
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I would say yes.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31It's worse now!
0:26:31 > 0:26:36After ten years, we have canonisation of John Paul II
0:26:36 > 0:26:38and we have a kind of euphoria
0:26:38 > 0:26:42around the Polish politicians.
0:26:42 > 0:26:48And most Poles are unwilling to say any critical words about him.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52We've hit a wall of silence. We wanted to know
0:26:52 > 0:26:56exactly how much public money was spent on the letters.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00The president's office helped negotiate the purchase,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02but they didn't want to be interviewed.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05We also wanted to speak to Cardinal Dziwisz.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07He knew of the sale in 2008.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09But he wouldn't talk either.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14You can certainly understand the concern of the Church
0:27:14 > 0:27:17at a bunch of grubby journalists like you and me
0:27:17 > 0:27:19rooting around in this stuff.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24When Carl Bernstein interviewed Anna-Teresa 20 years ago,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27she told him she was keeping John Paul's letters to her.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29She wouldn't let him see them,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33but even then, she feared the story they tell might be lost.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37She wanted their existence known. She wanted them kept safe.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41She told me about her fears that someone would try to steal them.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46I have no doubt that she would want the archive to be published one day,
0:27:46 > 0:27:52and to, uh, attract the interest of scholars and philosophers.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Her letters, of course, are still hidden -
0:27:54 > 0:27:57though now there's bound to be pressure to make everything public.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00His still tell a compelling story.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04He was such an intensely vibrant human being.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08In a sense, one is rather in awe of the self-discipline
0:28:08 > 0:28:11that he evidently brought to that relationship.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14We're talking about Saint John Paul.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18This is an extraordinary relationship.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23It is out of the ordinary, in the papal context.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25It's not illicit.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28Nonetheless, it's fascinating.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31It changes our perception of him.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35Far from being written out of history,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Anna-Teresa is now rewriting it from beyond the grave.