However, if he suffered, he had a close friend who had suffered much more horribly in the 1970s. This is, of course, Cardinal Francis Xaview Nguyen Van Thuan, who wrote the great spiritual exercises of the Jubilee Year of 2000.
Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan was imprisoned by the communists in Vietnam shortly after the fall of the country.
The communists had all sorts of fun with Cardinal Van Thuan. First they would starve him to death. Then they would feed him but keep him locked up in a small area and not allow him to go to the bathroom so that his own waste was all around him.
In the end, the communists decided to end their fun and games and might have felt their program of indoctrination (i.e., torture) was ended, but the communists were not satisfied with the results. He was first moved to Northern Vietnam where he knew no one, and starting converting the communists in his community to the Catholic faith.
After this disaster for the communists, he was closely guarded by the internal police. But then he started converting his internal police detail.
Finally, after converting too many people, he was expelled from the country. His family was well known in Vietnam, which might have kept the communists from killing him outright...
If some of things that Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan went through, he might have thought of suicide or death, but did not.
Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan's story was probably a significant inspiration to Pope John Paul II when he was suffering...
A true man. Real Christianity is contagious, isn’t it. Those who wish to do away with it will have better luck with the flu.