It was my privilege to work with NBC News Specials during the years covered by this book; I am particularly grateful for our time together during the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005 and the election of his successor. My thanks go to Joe Alicastro, Philip Alongi, Subrata De, Clare Duffy, M. L. Flynn, Jean Harper, Christine Jansing, Margie Lehrman, Mark Lukasiewicz, Jim Maceda, Keith Miller, Mimi Mouakad, Elena Nachman-off, Michele Neubert, Beth O’Connell, Marjorie Weeke, Stephen Weeke, and Brian Williams.
Father Wojciech Kania, Magdalena Koc, Szymon Malecki, Ashley Morrow, Paula Olearnik, and Father John Rock, S.J., were most helpful with translations from German, Polish, and Russian.
Father Richard John Neuhaus, who did not live to see this book either completed or published, was, until his death in January 2009, a steady source of insight into the accomplishment of Pope John Paul II.
M. Edward Whelan III and my colleagues at the Ethics and Public Policy Center are as supportive a group of colleagues as could be imagined. My assistants during the years covered by this book, Carrie Gress Stibora and Stephen White, were especially helpful.
Loretta Barrett, my literary agent, has believed in this project since 1995, and I am grateful for her wise counsel and support. Bill Barry and Steve Rubin brought me to Doubleday, and I thank both of them for their confidence in my work. It has been a pleasure to work with Trace Murphy; Gary Jansen’s superb editorial skills are accompanied by great good humor. Special thanks to Tricia Wygal, Maggie Carr, and Maureen Clark for their superb production editing, copyediting, and proofreading skills.
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my wife, Joan, and to my children, Gwyneth, Monica, and Stephen, for the patience, love, and stamina they have all displayed during the fifteen years I worked on the biography of Pope John Paul II—a debt that came to include my son-in-law, Robert Susil, and Robert and Gwyneth’s son, William, when they entered the family circle. Robert died on February 5, 2010, after a heroic battle with cancer during which he conducted himself with the kind of grace and courage displayed by John Paul II in his own protracted suffering. It is a privilege to dedicate The End and the Beginning to the memory of a Christian gentleman, a brilliant young scientist, a model husband and father, and a beloved son-in-law: Robert Charles Susil.
Neither The End and the Beginning nor Witness to Hope is an authorized biography: no one in the Vatican, or indeed anywhere else, had vetting rights, nor would I have granted any. In both volumes, this telling of the story of Pope John Paul II has been made possible by the cooperation of many, many people; I hope their assistance has made my rendering of events as authoritative as possible. The final responsibility for the narrative, analysis, and judgments in both books is, however, mine alone.
G.W.
April 4, 2010
Easter Sunday
The End and the Beginning Page 80