When we stayed on duty in the afternoon, after the lunch hours it often happened that the Pope looked into our gardens. John Paul II – what an athlete! He walked in a sprint, not a walking step. We always tried to hide somewhere, I tried to work somewhere behind the hedge so I would not disturb him. The gendarmes also tried to “clear” the road, separate us from the Pope, they were telling us to go out of sight. But John Paul II himself had a different opinion; he loved contact with people. And, I did not even dream that soon I would not have to gaze at him from the behind plants, rather he would accost me, asking me what was going on.
This great privilege of direct contacts with John Paul II fell to Giuseppe completely unexpectedly… bOne day, the gardener was given the task of taking care of the Pope’s private garden on the roof of the Apostolic Palace. For John Paul II this terrace was a wonderful escape from the hustle and bustle of the world. As I have already mentioned, his predecessor Paul VI did not like long walks in the Vatican Gardens, but nevertheless he wanted to get some fresh air at times. It is to him that we owe the development of this part of the Apostolic Palace. The palace itself was perfectly suited for this purpose. A perfect geometric body with a flat, extensive roof begged to be used in some practical way. If only so that the plants planted there absorb at least part of the sun’s rays and Roman heat, which pours from the sky every year from the beginning of June to the end of September. The Pope spent much of this period in his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, but in the remaining months he often looked here, on the roof.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 140 – 142
