There were a lot of Christmas wafer meetings at the Vatican; before December 23 – with the Roman Curia. It was a special audience with wishes and summary of the past year. Every Vatican employee received a Christmas gift from John Paul II. It was a bottle of Spumante wine, a Christmas Italian panettone cake and just this Christmas card with a special blessing – says Archbishop Mokrzycki. – A small gesture, and how much it means. We knew that the Holy Father thought of each of the curia's employees, remembered everyone. He wanted everyone to feel important; especially in this pre-Christmas time. There were also completely private Christmas wafer meetings. Prelate Sławomir Oder, postulator of the beatification and canonization process of John Paul II, once told the magazine „Nasza Droga” ("Our Way") that in 1987, together with a group of priests from the Polish College, he was invited by John Paul II to such a carol-Christmas wafer meeting, which had very family atmosphere - he said. - The very fact that the Holy Father thought of those people who, like him, this Christmas were away from home. The Pope also did not forget about gifts. Each of us drew the fate to which the gift was assigned. I remember that is when I got a bag of tennis equipment. Archbishop Mokrzycki mentions that every year the Holy Father also invited priests from Poland who lived in two Roman collegiate schools: the Polish Institute on via Pietro Cavallini and the Polish College on Pizza Remuria. The students' priests made wishes to the Holy Father, he says, they were singing Christmas carols with him, and then they always received a souvenir, a small gift. And a small donation for college. Let's say a present under the Christmas tree – laughs the Archbishop. John Paul II enjoyed a lot every such meeting. Poles were always in the papal apartments awaited and greeted with joy. This longing for Poland was more palpable before Christmas.
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – "A Place for everyone"
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013.
