VATICAN CITY — Ailing Pope John Paul II did not resign because he feared that future popes might be pressured to step down based on the “dangerous” precedent, a Vatican cardinal says in a new book.

John Paul’s longtime private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, told Cardinal Julian Herranz that the pope feared “creating a dangerous precedent for his successors because someone could remain exposed to maneuvers and subtle pressures by those who want to remove him,” Herranz writes.

Herranz’s book, “In the Vicinity of Jerico: Memories of the Years with St. Josemaria and John Paul II,” traces the his relations with the pope, among other topics.

Herranz wrote that in the months leading up to John Paul’s April 2 death, some Vatican officials, “with great respect but insistence,” spoke of the possibility that John Paul might resign because he was no longer able to run the Catholic Church.

He said that in a Dec. 17, 2004 discussion, Dziwisz told him the pope could not resign or retire because he received his mission directly from Christ.

No more than 10 popes are believed to have stepped down. The best known is Pope Celestine V, who assumed the papacy in 1294 at age 85 and resigned five months later, saying he was not up to the task. He was later put under guard for fear he would become the rallying point for a schism.