Remembering ‘Karol’ in Wadowice

THE rest of the world knew him as John Paul II.

To the inhabitants of Wadowice, the busy little town to the south of Krakow where he was born 92 years ago, he was Karol, or to his closest friends “Lolek”.

Karol Wojtyla is remembered for many things in his home town, among them his passion for sport. There are pictures of him on skis, on the tennis court, swimming, in a kayak but above all playing football. Usually in goal.

Massimo Cecchini, covering Italy’s preparations in Krakow for the Gazzetta dello Sport, met up with one of the Pope’s classmates, Eugeniusz Mroz, now 92 himself but still with crystal-clear memories.

The pitch where they used to play, Fatimska Street, is no more. Houses have been built over it.

“But we usually played in front of the church anyway,” recalls Eugeniusz, “until we broke a window, when the priest would tell us to go and play in the side-streets or the fields.

“Lolek was always simple with us, normal. He liked football and he liked playing in goal especially because he had long arms and it was hard to score against him. We didn’t have goalposts, we would use stones instead, although occasionally Lolek would stand in as a live post. He got hit a few times as well!”

Later the young Wojtyla would support the local “big” club — Cracovia. Years later, it is said, that while studying in London he used watch Fulham. Local parish priest Stanislaw Jaskieniec, who was ordained by the Pope and is now responsible for the museum in his memory, believes sport had special significance for him. “He loved it because it brings a special gift: it teaches you how to lose.”