Last rites declaration of Ioannes Paulus PP. II (Karol Wojtyla)
2nd April 2005
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"I know not who put me into the world, nor what the world is, nor what I
myself am. I am in terrible ignorance of everything. I know not what my body
is, nor my senses, nor my soul, not even that part of me which thinks what I
say, which reflects on all and on itself, and knows itself no more than the
rest. I see those frightful spaces of the universe which surround me, and I
find myself tied to one corner of this vast expanse, without knowing why I
am put in this place rather than in another, nor why the short time which is
given me to live is assigned to me at this point rather than at another of
the whole eternity which was before me or which shall come after me. I see
nothing but infinites on all sides, which surround me as an atom and as a
shadow which endures only for an instant and returns no more. All I know is
that I must soon die, but what I know least is this very death which I
cannot escape.
"As I know not whence I come, so I know not whither I go. I know only that,
in leaving this world, I fall for ev