Best-Selling Book By Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz Wins Critical Acclaim

Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz has had smashing sales success with his book about Pope John Paul II ? and now he has won critical acclaim as well. “The Testimony” A Life With Karol,? which has sold 1.2 mln copies in Italy and more than 1 mln in Poland, has won the Primio Roma Prize for the best non-Italian book in essay style.Dziwisz was a longtime secretary to the pope, whom he knew as Priest Karol Wojtyla before John Paul came to the Vatican. Every year the Romano di Ostia Antica, Italy?s Rome-based national theater, appoints a distinguished panel of writers, publishers, politicians and others to select the Primio Roma book prizes.This year?s winners besides Cardinal Dziwisz were Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni in the culture category, Leonardo Maugeri in the Italian essay category, Giorgio Faletti in the Italian prose category and Karen Essex in the non-Italian prose category.The cardinal noted when accepting the award at a gala dinner at the theater that John Paul was not only part of the world?s history but the theater?s history as well. He spoke in June 1986 there, the cardinal said.?The Testimony? ? or ?Swiadectwo? in Polish ? is a collection of 40 years of reminisces about the pope that Cardinal Dziwisz shared with the Italian writer Gian Franco Svidercoschi.Nearly 250,000 copies were sold in Poland within two days of the book?s January 17 arrival at stores. The book, which has been translated into 16 languages, is also being sold in the U.S., Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Brazil and South Korea.Proceeds from the book will go toward constructing a John Paul II ?Do Not Be Afraid? Center in Krakow?s Lagiewniki section. Cardinal Dziwisz came up with the idea of the center.The complex will be near the Saktuarium Bozego Milosierdzia, or Sanctuary of God?s Mercy. Its centerpiece will be a museum with archives related to Wojtyla. It will also contain a meditation park, a hotel, a conference center and restaurants.Cardinal Dziwisz?s spokesman, Robert Necek, said the book has been a best-seller in Italy largely because Italians wanted to know how his longtime aide viewed John Paul. Necek said the cardinal is considering another installment of ?