The entire world celebrated his birthday. From all over the world, telegram wishes and gifts came to the Vatican.
– Did the Holy Father open these gifts? Read wishes?
– He himself read only the most important ones, from heads of state, from the hierarchs of the Church. He wouldn’t be able to read all of them. Sometimes, we also brought him hand-made birthday cards from children. There were a lot of them. We wanted him to know that not all letters are official and deadly serious. These from children were very touching – drawings, words of prayer, and confession of love. Holy Father enjoyed them a lot. He sincerely laughed and always asked to replay to such a letter, with a thank you note. So, a response was sent. For every letter, every hand-made birthday card. By the way, not only the birthday ones. The Secretariat of State made sure to send a response to every letter that the Holy Father received.
– And, besides the birthday ones? How many letters per day did the Holy Father receive?
– Several hundred; two hundred, sometimes more. We looked at them and took some of them to the Holy Father. Usually about fifty letters went to the Pope’s desk. The rest stayed in the office.
– And, were they ending up in the trash?
– No. All lists were archived. The Secretariat of State was sending a response to all letters. The Holy Father has always asked to take care of it. And, I think the sections of the Secretariat of State have fulfilled this request from the Holy Father well.
– It’s hard to believe… For every letter that came to the Pope a response was sent?
– Yes
With the permission of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki –“He liked Tuesdays the most”
M Publishing House, Krakow 2008
