Book details Pope John Paul's self-mortification

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection, according to a new book by the Polish prelate spearheading his sainthood case.

The book, "Why He's a Saint," includes previously unpublished speeches and documents, including one 1989 signed memo in which John Paul said he would resign if he became incapacitated.

The book also reported that John Paul forgave his would-be assassin in the ambulance on the way to the hospital moments after he was shot on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter's Square. And it reported that he initially thought his attacker was a member of the terrorist Red Brigades.

The book, written by Msgr. Slawomir Oder, the main promoter for John Paul's canonization cause, was released yesterday. It was based on the testimony of 114 witnesses and boxes of documentation Oder gathered on the pope's life.

At a news conference, Oder defended John Paul's practice of self-mortification.

"It's an instrument of Christian perfection," he said to questions about how such a practice could be condoned considering that Catholic teaching holds that the human body is a gift from God. In the pope's armoire, on a hanger, was a belt that he used as a whip and that he always took to Castel Gandolfo. - AP