The Archbishop recalls that on January 1, on New Year’s Day, when he celebrates his name day, the Holy Father allowed him to invite some colleagues for dinner as a gift. It was always a very nice dinner. The Holy Father ate with us, joked with us, joked with me a little. There was a lot of laughter – he says. And, a few friends could come to this evening of carols, and earlier to dinner. Some were amazed. The passion with which the Holy Father sang carols. For the Archbishop it was a beautiful gift. Because – as he says – thanks to him he could share with his friends his joy of being at the side of the Holy Father. And grace. (…) When priest Mokrzycki became the secretary of the Holy Father, he invited him to a name-day dinner with the Holy Father every year. Father Lewandowicz, today the Rector of the seminary in Łódź, in February 1996 went to Rome on a scholarship. He laughs that Archbishop Mokrzycki did not admit to his friends that he would change his place of residence and move to work in the papal apartments. “He didn’t say a word” – he recalls. – I found out after the fact, when on the way to Rome I wanted to contact him and it turned out that he no longer lived where he lived, but with the Holy Father. I was very surprised. He was also surprised by the openness at the Papal table. And, warmth, which did not allow us to feel uncomfortable with the Pope. “That doesn’t mean, of course, that I wasn’t stressed” – he says. “Each of us was stressed in our own way. At the beginning I was so tense that the names about which the Holy Father asked, so well-known to me from Łódź, escaped from my memory. The man was losing his head, but it was quickly going away.
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “Place for everyone”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013.
