The last Easter in the Papal apartments Archbishop Mokrzycki will never forget. The Pope began to feel worse a few days before the beginning of Lent. It was the first day of February – recalls the Archbishop. The Holy Father complained that he could not swallow saliva, that it hurt him. And, he very rarely complained about something, in fact he did not complain almost at all, so we knew that the matter had to be serious. In the evening he began to run out of air. They went to the hospital. Diagnosis: laryngotracheitis. The Archbishop mentions that the Pope was losing his breath. It was hard – he says. – But then he got the medication and he was getting better. Subsequent studies have confirmed that the state of health is improving. The Holy Father began to eat. Because he couldn’t before. And, when Sunday came, at the Angelus he went out to the window of the Gemelli clinic. He spoke in a very weak and quiet voice. But, he gave the faithful a blessing, thanked them for their prayers. And, I remember that he also said that even in the hospital he does not cease to serve the Church and humanity. As if to say to the world: I am not yet dead, I am here and I am thinking of you. I am here and I pray for you. And, then he stood in that window and for a long time looked at the people who prayed with him in front of the clinic.
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “Place for everyone”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013.
