I imagine that the mere awareness that the immediate, intimate surroundings of his bedroom had been converted into a hospital and covered with medical equipment could not have been anything pleasant for the Pope. However, I remember how, literally a few days after the introduction of this change, during the visit of his good friend Cardinal Marian Jaworski, the Holy Father, showing the place, to me and to a colleague standing next to me, said: “I share this stage of my earthly journey with two guardian angels.” It was extremely nice and edifying for us, because we felt as if he had embraced us like his children, his sons. I must admit that caring for him was not very difficult, because he was not a difficult patient. Let’s be honest: in order to work well, effectively provide help and relief from suffering, we had to treat John Paul II simply as every patient who should be surrounded with the best possible care. We could not think that is the Holy Father, to perceive him as someone extremely important and therefore also a little inaccessible – because then ordinary medical activities would be difficult for us.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
Pages: 269 – 270
