So far I have described only short, one-day trips of the Pope to the mountains, but I have not yet mentioned the equally short periods of John Paul II’s vacations. The Holy Father had scruples to abandon his duties for a few hours and even more so for a few days. During one of his trips to the mountains of Abruzzo, our beloved Pope repeated several times that although these short trips from the Vatican are for him a wonderful opportunity to rest, as well as to pray and contemplate (in the beautiful surroundings of mountains and nature), they are also a cause for concern for him, because he believed that through his trips he only adds duties to people who accompanied him. Above all, however, John Paul II believed that these short periods of rest constituted – in a sense – an insult to God because at that time he did not fulfill (directly) his pastoral duties. At the end of one of these trips, before leaving for Rome, the Holy Father called me to him, as he usually did, took off his hat and literally said: “I did not deserve it.”
John Paul II used to exchange a few words with people who usually accompanied him, including me. Once, at the Camerata Nuova, he called me to him and – being in a particularly good mood that day – told me that these trips had made me a better athlete with him. Indeed, I have lost some weight at that time. Taking advantage of the Pope’s good mood and his willingness to talk, I took the liberty of suggesting – in accordance with earlier conversations with his secretary, Father Stanislaw Dziwisz – that the opportune time had come for him too, like any other man, to give himself a short holiday during the summer and to rest well. Such a rest would be very useful to him to strengthen his physical and spiritual strength, especially in view of the approaching responsibilities connected with the end of the second millennium, which was still distant in time, but the end of the century was already “knocking at the door”. The Holy Father replied that such a decision would not be well received and understood by the majority of the faithful not only in Italy but also throughout the world. His concern was not entirely without grounds – the faithful really did not understand and did not know the lifestyle of the Popes, who before John Paul II were very distant and unattainable for ordinary people, from whom they were separated by a kind of mystical barrier. But, it was different with John Paul II. From the first days of his Pontificate, he went among the crowds and gave himself completely to them, with the enthusiasm, zeal and spirit of service proper to young and humble priests. Fortunately, time passes and people’s mentality changes for the better very quickly. I was convinced that the faithful love their Pope a lot.
Enrico Marinelli * “The Pope and his General”
“Rafael” Publishing House
