New BBC Docu Reveals Pope John Paul II had an Affair?

A new documentary airing Monday night on BBC reveals that Pope John Paul II was in a relationship with a writer named Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. The former pontiff was said to be in love with the married woman based on the secret letters uncovered from her possessions.

BBC reported that Tymieniecka met the pope while he was still a cardinal in 1973, but moved to the United States to study. She married there and had three children, but she and the pope would later collaborate on a book. Over the years, their relationship would deepen.

Found in Tymieniecka’s possessions after her death in 2014 were the letters she had exchanged with Pope John Paul, including pictures of them together on camping trips. These were actually sold to the National Library of Poland in 2008, the documentary alleged.

According to Yahoo, there were over 350 letters in the library’s archive and it spanned between 1973 to 2005. “I would say they were more than friends but less than lovers,” said BBC journalist Edward Stourton. “One of the fascinating stories that comes out of these letters is of a struggle to contain what was certainly a very intense relationship which mixed emotions and philosophical ideas in proper Christian boundaries.”

“Nobody will be amazed at this information,” a Vatican spokesperson declared. “[There was] nothing out of the ordinary in the fact that pope John Paul II had close friendships with different people, whether men or women.”