The pontificate of John Paul II was a period incredibly rich in published works. In the times of Paul VI, I even had for a moment the idea of reducing the printing house, limiting the workforce, because there was not much work, but just after the election of Cardinal Wojtyla I saw what was happening. He was an avalanche of creativity!
The intense rhythm of the Pope’s work naturally involved not only the management of the printing house, but also all employees. People employed in the operation of printing machines, at the warehouse, at photo editing often spent several hours a day in the plant. Demetrio lived literally a hundred meters from the entrance to the Vatican, in an apartment that the Holy See rented to its employees. Each time, with willingness and enthusiasm, he remained even late at night in the printing house to complete the order.
– After all, we not only prepared a daily newspaper in six languages (let’s recall: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese, and also in Polish as a monthly). We printed colorful books for all Papal celebrations, prayer books, entrance tickets for audiences and liturgies with the Holy Father, publications for the Vatican Publishing Bookstore, information and didactic materials for the Bambino Gesù hospital, also belonging to the Vatican, as well as a lot of art publications and guides for the Vatican Museums and the Apostolic Library. We also printed new copies of the entire Holy Scripture, but also publications close to the heart of the Polish Pope, such as sister Faustina’s Diary.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
