For one and a half million people who gathered on the St. Peter’s Square on the day of beatification, there was no doubt that it was a miracle. That it was done by Pope John Paul II, who was in heaven. The entire crowd held their breath when Pope Benedict XVI kissed the reliquary, a glass ampoule containing a piece of material soaked in the blood of John Paul II. It was a great day for the Poles. Not only the first Slavic Pope, but also to be included in the blessed group. Although Karol Wojtyła spent almost a third of his life in Rome, he remained Pole in his heart and felt obliged to his homeland until his death. During the communist dictatorship, he wanted to protect his compatriots even after his death, so he informed friends that he was considering his burial on Wawel. Then, if the Berlin Wall had not collapsed, the remains of the late Karol Wojtyła would have become a pilgrimage destination for all Catholics behind the Iron Curtain. This way a place would have been created reminding them that no one has the right to take away the freedom of religion to the Polish people. His tomb would become a monument erected in protest against usurpers trying to oust in Poles the faith in Christ. On the day of the beatification, another Polish victory took place. At the time of the unveiling the photograph of the new Blessed on the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica, I stood next to my friend, photographer Grzegorz Gałązka. Grzegorz’s face radiated and there was a good reason for that. It was him who took the picture, which served as the official image of the candidate for the altars. It was he who immortalized this Papal smile (…) The situation of Arturo Marie, the Pope’s official photographer, author of hundreds of thousands of photographs of John Paul II, was incomparable more advantageous. Karol Wojtyła felt so far committed to him that he wanted to say goodbye to him personally on his deathbed. And, yet the historical photo, chosen from millions of others, was taken not by Arturo Mari, but by the Pole, Grzegorz Gałązka, a photographer from the second plan (…) Grzegorz himself had to finance expensive travel alongside the Pope. He had a lot of difficult moments. I remember his phones well when he confided to me his fears for the future, and yet, contrary to everything, he was fulfilling his passion, he followed “his” Pope. As a second-plan man, he fought for every shot, but he tried his best to do his job. And, his was marked into the history, struggling under the weight of his equipment which he carried with him, a tireless Pole with a big heart. It was him who took this photo of Pope John Paul II, which now all the faithful whenever they pray to Karol Wojtyła have before their eyes.
Andreas Englisch – Healer. Miracles of Saint John Paul II
WAM Publishing House. Jesuit Fathers. Kraków 2015
