Meals we all ate together. With the Pope. It was only at the very end of his life that he began to eat separately, because he had great breathing problems: when he ate, he was coughing a lot, he choked. So the idea was that he should not feel embarrassed in front of others. I helped him with his meals so that everything would go safely, and then together with others I ate next door, in a small living room. To the end, however, he was full of disarming simplicity and playfulness. He would look at us while we were sitting at the table and ask for permission for a portion of ice cream. He loved ice cream and was always very happy when he had the opportunity to taste it.
First, for a few days I was the only paramedic in the Papal apartment, and for the last three days, from Wednesday, March 29, Andrea joined me.
In the world behind the Bronze Gate, this time, especially the last week, from Easter Sunday to Saturday on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, 2005, was a difficult, strange period. Most of the Vatican’s employees and residents have not yet experienced anything like this. Those who came here to work after 1978 did not remember the predecessors of John Paul II, they never survived either the death of any successor of St. Peter, nor the conclave.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican” Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020 Pages: 271 – 272
