We worked very hard. At the end of the seventies, at the beginning of Karol Wojtyła’s pontificate, we printed an average of twenty-seven or eight thousand copies of the Italian version of “L’Osservatore Romano” a day. It should be remembered that the Polish version has been added in the form of a monthly newspaper, which we sent to Poland, at first by train, and then – over time – also by trucks. Up to fifteen thousand copies at a time. There was a Spanish version, the circulation of which reached about twenty-five thousand. German “L’Osservatore…” similarly, and English – about fifteen thousand. And, that’s not all.
The circulation, but also the volume of the newspaper was associated with the enormous activity of the Pope himself. The newspaper never came out in a six-page form. We printed at least eight pages, but often twelve, fourteen, even sixteen. We still had an abundance of material to develop; often we had to postpone a topic for another day, because it did not fit into a given edition. In this intense daily work I had constant contact with the Pope for twenty-seven years. He kept telling me: “Remember that here at my place, you are at home. Feel at home.” Certainly, our relationship was based on great trust. The Pope and Father Dziwisz knew that they could entrust me with a specific task, and I would do my job in the best way.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 78 – 79
