Blessed John Paul II: a Polish portrait

(Vatican Radio) Perhaps to better understand the papacy of Blessed John Paul II, the most universal, the most travelled, the most media conscious of all popes one must not only look to the Vatican but the mystical Poland he held in this heart.

In this programme Veronica Scarisbrick , with the help of her guests, shines the spotlight on the more private part to his life in a special way on his Marian devotion fired as a child in the Beskidy hills at the shrine of Kalwaria Zebzydowska, as one of his childhood friends explains.

But also happier moments when despite the context of political repression in which he grew up, , he exercised his sportsmanship , played table tennis or danced the polka. A description of normality which expresses a profound ability to embrace life.

A connection to his Polish roots he kept up in a special way as pope during his summer holidays in Castegandolfo, when he ambled around the garden discussing philosophical issues with other Polish University Professors. Among them cosmologist Michael Heller who explains how the only language welcomed on these occasions was Polish.

Listen to this programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick: