Valentino never thought that one day he would have such an extraordinary task. To have the Pope in the front seat of the car, to sit shoulder to shoulder with him, to travel together thousands of kilometers on Italian roads, to spend hundreds of hours together – while driving, and then on the trails, by the fire. And, it all started by accident. From the beginning of the pontificate of John Paul II, gendarmes faced a considerable logistical challenge, because it quickly turned out that he was a Pope completely different from his predecessors. He simply needed fresh air; he wanted at least sometimes a “small escape” from the tight walls, breath. A group of several members of security was quickly formed and under the supervision of the main head of the Vatican Gendarmerie began to organize for the Holy Father small trips outside Rome. One day, one man was missing from it – he retired. And, it fell on Valentino. There was a generational exchange.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 158 – 159
