I saw this Pope with my own eyes in the autumn of 1987. I promised my mother that I would bring her a rosary blessed by the Holy Father, so I went in a Vespa for my first time meeting in the Paul VI Hall. At that time, John Paul II was still moving with the elastic step of a man accustomed to covering considerable distances on foot. As soon as he appeared in the hall there were shouts: “John Paul Two, we love you” the masses chanted, and he picked up the microphone and replied: “John Paul Two loves you,” to which there was applause. (…) Later, I watched Karol Wojtyła walk among the crowd after the audience, shaking hundreds of outstretched hands. He received the honor with embarrassment as people threw themselves on their knees before him. He picked them up, and every gesture he made tried to say: “I’m not someone extraordinary.” I imagined this Pope in a completely different way. Above my grandmother’s bed until her death hung a photograph of Pius XII, the Pope sitting stiffly on his throne, blessing something invisible in the picture. He looked like a statue and did not resemble the man who was now walking through the audience hall. The crowds pressed on him, but apparently, he did not mind, he went on, shaking hands and blessing the faithful. He reminded me rather of a simple parish priest who does not feel very well in the role of the Pope. Nothing in his attitude indicated that the day would come when we would venerate Wojtyła as an extraordinary Pope and as a Saint.
Andreas English
Miracles of Saint John Paul II. WAM Publishing House. Jesuit priests. Cracow 2015
