When I ask the Archbishop about Christmas Eve, which he remembers most fondly – the one that was special for him, he speaks without hesitation about the Vigil of the Jubilee Year. And, about the Midnight Mass for which John Paul II was waiting so much. I remember that the Holy Father was absorbed by that Mass – he says. Until the last moment, he corrected the text. Even after the Christmas Eve supper, he was writing something. This has never happened before. In previous years, a month before Christmas, everything was ready. Translations had to be done. The text should be distributed to journalists beforehand. It was the whole process. And, here the Holy Father was making the last corrections a few hours before the Midnight Mass. I ask what the amendments were. But the Archbishop argues that they are minor. Sometimes one word, sometimes a piece of sentence. Not the meaning, but the form. To make it sound better; to sound more emphatic. I remember that Fr. Stanisław was already insisting – he said. – Explaining that journalists are already waiting. The Pope wanted it to be a strong blow. These were the words that would lead all of us – the Church – into the new millennium. They were supposed to be and they were.
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “Place for everyone”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013.
