He was still under his mother’s heart when his parents went to St. Peter’s Square on the evening of that fateful day, on April 2, as soon as they received the news of the death of John Paul II. Edward was born five months later. Today he is eight years old. He is a fan” of Pope Francis and knows everything about him. Every time he sees him on TV, he sits on the floor and listens carefully. But he also heard of Benedictus XVI. He knows that he wrote many books about Jesus and that, as he says, “he did not feel good, he was already very old.”
However, everything he knows about Karol Wojtyła he learned from his parents, and a little bit from the catechist. But he is very interested and would like to learn more. He was struck when he discovered that on that Saturday evening, he also went – in a way – to say goodbye to the Pope, who traveled so much around the world, the Pope on whom there was an attempt to kill him. The Pope who was a great friend of children, children like him…
I told this story, but I could tell many others, just as beautiful, to tell about the amazement I experience in the face of such a “mystery” as this one. Yes, I think it is a mystery. There are children like Edward, who met John Paul II only through some kind of television broadcast, some photographs, and stories of mom and dad. And yet, they are attracted by this man, who is no longer here. Maybe there is more in this fascination. And the question is: why?
With the permission of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “At the side of the Saint”
St. Stanislaw BM Publishing House, Krakow 2013
