Archbishop Mokrzycki and Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz did not have to live on the same floor as the Pope. John Paul II had a small bell. He was using it when he needed something. He did it rarely, as almost all the time during the day, they were together; from the morning Mass until the last evening prayer. Although, as the Archbishop says, it happened that the Pope was using the small bell, not necessary at the time of a great need. This happened especially in Castel Gandolfo, where the procedure with the bell was similar and the Holy Father was more relaxed. It was fun for him to use the small bell and a form of a joke. The Holy Father never said that this is fun and a form of a joke, but we always knew it as it was not one small bell, but an entire set of small bells. That’s he was especially tinkling one of them ting, ting, ting….You could hear it in the entire courtyard…very, very loud.
– And who then ran to the Holy Father?
– Then, everyone was running.
– And, when you came running, what did the Holy Father say?
– Sometimes, he asked where one of the sisters is, as she was supposed to come to him and she did not show up. Sometimes, he wanted to ask us about something or just to see us. However, we were able to tell based on the small bell that he used, if he was in need or this is just a small joke. In Castel Gandolfo, I had a room near Cardinal Stanisław, so after a “normal” small bell ringing, I knew if he was going to the Holy Father. If he was going, then I did not go. And, if I did not hear him going, then I was going. However, if the Holy Father used the entire set of the small bells, then we all were going to him.
– In the Vatican, there was a system that was signaling that somebody went to the Holy Father after a small bell was used.
– In the Vatican it was that when the Holy Father was using a small bell, then a light was turning on in our rooms and in sisters’ rooms. When one of us was responding to the bell, then other lights went off. However, in the Vatican he used the small bells very rarely, very, very rarely. He was always self-sufficient; he tried to be, until the very end.
With the consent of Archbishop Mokrzycki “He liked Tuesdays the most”
