Massimiliano today is fifty years old. At the time he speaks of, he was only thirty-five years old. He is the youngest of the heroes of our story. It can be said that he spent only three years with the Pope. However, these were years that will remain in the memory of people around the world for a long time. The years that I, too, living behind the Bronze Gate, spent in the shadow of John Paul II.
What Massimiliano was doing during this period was for him much more than a daily job, more than a service. It was a special mission, the execution of which turned out to be – as he emphasizes – the most important and valuable task of his life.
– Almost twenty years ago, the Vatican health service organized a special team to care for the increasingly ill John Paul II. At that time I was working at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. Several times I took care of the Pope during his stay in this hospital. A colleague with whom I worked there mentioned my name when the team was being assembled. A few months later, in 2002, I came to the Vatican. It was undoubtedly a difficult time; the most difficult in my medical career. In Gemelli, where I have been working since 1990, when I had to deal with the Holy Father, it was only for a few hours, at most a few days. Here, this care was to be permanent, and at the same time it took on a completely different, very personal character.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
Pages: 260 – 261
