VATICAN CITY (AP) - The late Pope John Paul II considered retiring at 80 - almost five years before his death - but decided to leave it to God's will to determine how long he should stay on, his closest aide said in a new book.
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John Paul "did take such a possibility into consideration," Dziwisz said in his book. But in the end "he reached the conviction that he had to submit to God's will, that is to say, to stay on for as long as God wanted."
The book, "A Life with Karol," comes out Wednesday in Italy and Jan. 29 in Poland, Italian publishing house Rizzoli said. Dziwisz, the pope's secretary and for four decades the closest aide to John Paul, is archbishop of Krakow, Poland.
John Paul died on April 2, 2005.
Speculation about a possible papal resignation had been in the air for almost a decade before his death at 84, as the pontiff had been visibly weakened from Parkinson's disease and hip and knee ailments. In the last years, his speech had been slurred and he used a throne on wheels that was pushed by aides.
During his lifetime, John Paul repeatedly said he intended to stay on - even asserting that he would continue to serve the church from his hospital room.
No pope has resigned for centuries. The most famous to have done so was Celestine V, who assumed the papacy in 1294 at age 85 and resigned five months later, saying he was not up to the task.
In the book, based on conversations with Italian journalist Gian Franco Svidercoschi, Dziwisz also suggested that Soviet spies could have been behind the assassination attempt.
in which John Paul was wounded by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.
Dziwisz also recalled how the pope spent the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks praying in his chapel and watching televised news accounts.
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