Why would he ask this?

According to a news report, the late JPII asked that all his private notes be burned. Meanwhile, the pontiff's former secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, has refused. According to Dziwisz: "Nothing is fit for burning, everything should be preserved and kept for history, for the future generations - every single sentence."

Why would the Pope ask such a thing to be destroyed?

I must admit now, while loving His Holiness, this is the most wonderful field for completely absurd speculation I have ever heard of. And absurd speculation is what I do best!

"Someone remind me why I gave Mahoney a Cardinal's hat?"

"Memo to self: Visit Billy Graham and accept Jesus before it's too late."

"To Do: (1) Pay off former Nazi's; (2) Redesignate CDF as 'Grand Inquisition'; (3) Get diamond studs for bedroom slippers"

What is far more likely is that there will be spiritual speculations in there which JPII decided never to publish and which non-Catholics, dissenting Catholics, or schismatics will want to leap upon to say "See? In his heart, JPII would have approved of.... (fill in your favorite heresy here). Or, possibly, there will be fodder for ambitious Cardinals to use against each other ("Ha Ha! Arinze-- you actually flirted with that idea? You'll never be pope now!").

Or maybe it's just old fashioned humility.

Me, I like to gleefully imagine worst case scenarios.

"Must explore link between Blessed Virgin and Babylonian Cults."

"Next Encyclical: Ecclesio Orthodoxio Delenda Est."

"Shopping List: Beer, Twister Game, Lava Lamp"

Endless possibilities. Now that we know the notes exist, we need to get them published so that I can stop imagining.

You know it will be about seventy volumes.