VATICAN: When the future Pope John Paul II was summoned to Warsaw in the summer of 1958 by Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, he was on his annual summer holidays.
Nothing daunted by the summons to HQ, Karol Wojtyla packed his sleeping bag into his rucksack, hitched a lift on a lorry full of bags of flour and made his way back to Warsaw. When he finally entered the Cardinal Primate's study, it was to be informed that he had been nominated auxiliary Bishop of Cracow.
Next day, the auxiliary bishop-elect went to report to his new boss, Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak. Having presented his credentials, the new man asked his Archbishop if he might now return to his canoeing holiday in Masuria. Great was his disappointment when Archbishop Baziak replied: "I am not sure if that is now suitable for you."
After a night of earnest prayer, auxiliary Wojtyla tried again with his archbishop who, this time, relented, warning him only "to come back in time for your consecration".
That anecdote is one of several contained in the Pope's latest book, "Alzatevi, Andiamo" (Rise Up and Let Us Go), launched in Rome yesterday to coincide with the Pope's 84th birthday.
Former Italian prime minister Mr Giuliano Amato said that normally people received presents on their birthday but the Pope had reversed the procedure by "making this present to all of us". Senate speaker Marcello Pera admitted to feeling just a little jealous when being informed that the Pope had written another book, notwithstanding his well-chronicled ailments.