See how honored God's friends are! - An interview with the President of the Bishops' Conference on the feast day of St. John Paul II

Meetings with Cardinal Wojtyła, the main lines of John Paul II's pontificate, and the personal holiness of the Polish Pope are the topics of the conversation between the President of the Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, and the spokesman of the Polish Bishops' Conference, Fr. Leszek Gęsiak SJ. Archbishop, you witnessed the moment when Karol Wojtyła was elected to the See of Peter. Could you please tell us a few words about the circumstances in which it happened and your reaction to the election? In fact, we were many in St. Peter's Square then, including many Poles. I was fortunate to be there with others and to witness this unique, historic moment when Karol Wojtyła's name was announced. Apart from the normal emotion that accompanies such moments, the first thought that came to my mind was: This is something that happens only once in a thousand years for the Christian Nation, for the Poles, and it may never happen again. Thinking about the situation in which the new Pope found hims