In Rome, to which I came in 1987, there were quite a few people who had no doubt that they were living in a special period when the Vatican was governed by a real saint. During the general audience, there were a lot of the faithful from all over the world who not only wanted to see this man, but above all wanted to touch him. Pilgrims, often priests, nuns or monks, sick people, people in a difficult situation in life, were willing to endure a lot, to be able to touch the Pope. In front of my eyes, I still have these audiences, during which Karol Wojtyła, still in full strength, walked through the center of Paul VI’s hall. And priests and other pilgrims, despite the orders issued by the Vatican guards to stay at the bottom, every now and then tried to jump over the barriers. I saw young seminarians jumping on chairs and with one leap omitting all obstacles to touch John Paul II. He walked through the entire room with angelic patience. Gendarmes hated these moments especially that the checks of the faithful before entering the auditorium hall were just ridiculous. So, they realized that each of those thousands of people the Pope hugged, blessed, or greeted, may have had a revolver or a knife with them. Meanwhile, Karol Wojtyła apparently did not mind. He understood that all these people also wanted to touch him, that in addition to listening to his sermons, they also wanted to shake his hand or at least brush his cassock. I have often wondered what lead them. Where did the need come from? What prompted, let’s say, a Mexican resident or a resident of the Philippines, to accept all these inconveniences, to allow the guards or gendarmes to yell at them or even be pushed back, just to touch the Papal robes? After his passage among the crowd, I have often seen the Pope’s white cassock to be stained or even torn apart. It seems to me that most people subconsciously thought about that scene from the New Testament at the time – here it may be my only chance to touch the saint, I can not lose it.
Andreas Englisch – Healer. Miracles of Saint John Paul II
WAM Publishing House. Jesuit Priests. Krakow 2015
