Though a papal election is always a momentous news event, the surprising selection of Karol Cardinal Wojtyla last week as the 264th Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church attracted exceptional interest. To report on the background of Polish-born John Paul II, and to assess the reactions of his former parishioners, TIME dispatched Washingtpn Correspondent Gregory Wierzynski to Cracow.

It was like a summons home for the 13-year veteran of Time Inc. Son of one of Poland's most distinguished poets, Wierzynski was born in Warsaw only 2 1/2 months before the Germans invaded. Though he left his homeland in 1946 for Switzerland and, seven years later, the United States, he has returned to Poland often, and family members proved to be good sources on this particular story. "Before leaving Washington," recalls Wierzynski, "I debriefed my mother, who had met the then Bishop Wojtyla several times while my parents lived in Rome." Later, in Warsaw, Wierzynski sought out his brother and questioned him while they sipped tea.

Once in Cracow, he stopped by the mansion that until last week had served as Wojtyla's home, and found its nuns and priests hospitable--an opportunity he quickly seized. "I still speak Polish," Wierzynski says, "which was an enormous help in conducting interviews and getting around. It also helped me understand and share the emotion of the Poles as they talked about their--our--Pope. Poland is a stubbornly proud and patriotic country, and no greater recognition can come to this nation than to have one of its own made Bishop of Rome. More than once, I felt tears well up as people told of their joy but also of their sadness over the loss of a friend. Cardinal Wojtyla was truly loved here."

Wierzynski was especially moved when he read some unpublished poems of John Paul II, who had known Wierzynski's father and admired his poetry. The theme of the Pope's verse, Wierzynski reports, "is Poland, and it sings of his powerful attachment to this country and its people. It's the kind of attachment that has enabled this unhappy country to survive devastating wars and centuries of occupation."

Our 30 bureaus throughout the world contributed to this week's cover story, written by Associate Editor Richard Ostling, and the box on Communism and the church, written by Associate Editor Mayo Mohs. With this cover package, TIME begins its task of recording and interpreting the reign of Pope John Paul II. Wierzynski, however, already feels strongly about his fellow Pole. "He's a tough, compassionate, realistic and warm man," judges our man in Cracow. "He'll make a great Pope."

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