\After a hike and a meal, we would go back to the cars parked somewhere in the area and drive to the Vatican. Over the years, we have used various car models during these trips. At the beginning it was the famous lancia thesis, which the Pope received as a gift from Gianni Agnelli, the owner of Fiat, then we often used a Chrysler, BMW, and in fact we traveled many times just in our private cars, in order to be as little as possible conspicuous to outsiders. I often took my own car myself. For example, when such heavy snow fell in Mentorella, from Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope spent time after Christmas, I brought him in my own car.
I was driving, and he was sitting to my right. That was the case every time. Especially in the period when he was already starting to be less fit, he needed comfort and a little more space. During the trip, he talked, asked about my family, about my loved ones, about various Vatican matters. He was like a caring father to me. He also had moments when he immersed himself in prayer – he always had a Rosary with him – or read, and several books at once. It has always been a phenomenon for me: in an hour and a half of driving, John Paul II was able to read three books, often in different languages. How he did it, and how he was able to remember it all, I could never comprehend.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 172 – 173
