– Franciszkańska Street 3, Wigry, and what else?
– And Zakopane. Meeting with Highlanders at the Krokiew Hill in 1997. With Highlanders, he had an unusual bond. He often referred to this oath, which the mayor read on behalf of all Highlanders kneeling.
– For what the Pope loved Highlanders so much?
– I think that for their perseverance and faithfulness. For that they are tough and brave. He liked and admired people like that. Besides, he had a lot from such Highlanders. Firm, brave, steadfast.
– During that visit, so rarely, the Holy Father had so much free time, to be with the Tatra nature – like in old times…
– That is true. We were staying in Kiężówka, which he knew very well. There was a hiking to Morskie Oko Lake, and before that the Holy Father flew in helicopter over Orawa, Gorce, along Dunajec River Gorge; he saw Lake Czorsztyn. Then, for about three quarters of an hour, he was walking along Morskie Oko. He even spoke with the head of the shelter, with the director of the Tatra National Park. At that time, he said these words: “Look after this land, this nature!” These were intimate meetings. All attendants went for the Dunajec River Gorge rafting.
– There was also hiking on Kasprowy Wierch…
– That was the next day. After the Mass at the Wielka Krokiew Hill, already in the afternoon, the Holy Father took the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch. The weather was not as good as the previous day at Morskie Oko. Rainy clouds were not blocking the view of the peaks.
John Paul II knew them all as he hiked all of them. He was pointing with his walking stick and naming them. At the top of the peak, in the restaurant, he was drinking tea from a tourist mug and smiling at the same time. On the way back, he visited the hermitage of St. Brother Albert at Kalatowki.
With the consent of Archbishop Mokrzycki “He liked Tuesdays the most”
M Publisher, Kraków 2008
