John Paul II never stopped. No other Pope would keep up with him. So, from the first moments I started my work, my hands were full. In the late eighties, I didn’t know what a free Saturday or Sunday meant. Something was planned for each day. Celebrations, Masses, special audiences or meetings on the St. Peter Square. The Pope at that time was extremely energetic. It was not uncommon for me not to go home to bed in the evening, because the next day the wake-up call was scheduled for five thirty or at the latest at six o’clock, in order to be able to do everything before the morning ceremony. So, I stayed in the office and slept on the floor.
The most special time, however, began at the end of his life, in the Jubilee Year 2000. At that time, due to the Pope’s increasing physical difficulties, even with moving, I had more and more frequent personal contact with him. The disease was progressing, and as a result, the need for the support I could provide for him was also increasing. Father Stanisław Dziwisz – either personally or through Bishop Pier Marini, the Master of Papal Ceremonies – constantly informed me what was necessary to do. There were more and more of these challenges.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
Pages: 196 – 197
