He ordained almost three thousand priests and more than a hundred bishops. He, himself baptized, confirmed, blessed marriages, confessed. The sacraments were an important part of his pontificate, his daily routine. The Holy Father wanted to preserve this faithful pastoral ministry. As a Pope, he was the Bishop of Rome, he was a priest. And, he wanted to provide that service in a full prospective. It was him, who started to provide Episcopal ordination on Epiphany – January 6th of each year, to baptize children on the Baptism of the Lord Sunday and adults on the Holy Saturday. It was him who introduced the tradition of priestly ordination to the deacons of the Roman diocese on Sunday of the Good Shepherd, when the entire Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
– Whose children did the Pope baptize?
– At first, these were only children from the families of Vatican workers or some extraordinary cases: a rescued child or, for example, twins. Various stories. There were a lot of requests. The Holy Father baptized each year almost forty, fifty children. We also often did a confirmation for the boys from juvenile detention centers. (…) The Holy Father did not preside over marriages often. I remember only two, except for blessing marriages of eight couples from different continents during one of the holy Masses of the Jubilee Year. In addition, the Holy Father gave the marriage to the daughter of Mr. Kamerlengo and the granddaughter of Jerzy Kluger, a friend of the Holy Father from Wadowice. In the motto “Rise, let’s go!” he explained that the Bishop, who personally administers the sacraments, appears to all as a sign of Christ always present and acting in His Church. He wanted to be a clear sign of Christ. On Good Friday, he wished to remind the world of the Sacrament of Penance. For that reason, he was going to the Basilica of St. Peter to serve his priesthood ministry in confession. One of us was going to the line and asked a few people – to be fair, usually from various nationalities – if they would like to go to the confession to the Holy Father. (…) Some of them were very happy, some refused, as it happened sometimes. Maybe they were afraid to go the confession to the Holy Father? But, I will say honestly that those who wanted were such normal people. They did not express a great enthusiasm learning that they will go to the confession to the Holy Father. They were calm. And we were calm too, as it meant that the sacrament is the most important. As well as to the Holy Father.
With the consent of Archbishop Mokrzycki “He liked Tuesdays the most”
M Publisher, Kraków 2008
