"Roman Triptych: Meditations" is a forty-page poem by

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, composed of three parts: ''Stream'', ''Meditation on the Book of Genesis'', and ''A Hill in the Moria Land.'' Originally written in John Paul II's native Polish after a visit to his homeland of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the poem was translated to Italian by

Grażyna Miller Grażyna Miller (29 January 1957 – 17 August 2009)Żegnamy tłumaczkę "Tryptyku rzy ...

, and published in 2003 simultaneously in Poland (as ) and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

(as ). The poem has since been translated into languages including English (by Jerzy Pietrkiewicz), French, Spanish, and German. A Polish audio version was recorded by actor

Krzysztof Globisz Krzysztof Maria Globisz (born 16 January 1957 in Siemianowice Śląskie) is a Polish theatre and film actor. His best-known role is as Piotr Balicki, the newly qualified barrister whose opinion of capital punishment undergoes a radical change i ...

. ''Roman Triptych'' received praise from philosopher and historian , poet and Nobel laureate

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...

, poet , and Cardinal

Joseph Ratzinger Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as po ...

, several of whom were close personal friends of John Paul II. It was especially popular in Poland, selling out 80% of the initial print run of 300,000 copies before the official launch date.

References

External links

John Paul II, The Roman Triptych. Meditations, translated by Jerzy Peterkiewicz.
2003 books Works by Pope John Paul II 2003 in Christianity {{Poem-stub