I served him day and night, every day, for a total of eighteen years. From the time I was a very young soldier, to the time when, as a mature man, I had to say goodbye to him, like all of us. He was my Pope, I have always felt that way and I stand by it even today. With him I grew up in faith, in the Church. In my consciousness, John Paul II always existed as the head of the Church. He taught me to pray the Rosary in its deepest dimension. He led the paths of my life. He was a role model for me when I was still living in Switzerland, but the subsequent everyday life here in the Vatican turned out to be much more astonishing. He “called me here”, it was in his time that the guard delighted me.
Christoph Graf is the thirty-fifth commander of the Papal Swiss Guard.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
Page: 93
