Monika Pyrek admires Pope
Poland’s World Championship pole vault silver medallist Monika Pyrek talks to spikesmag.com about her admiration for her compatriot Pope John Paul II.
“I am Polish, so we always say the Pope. If you ask most Polish people they would say the same. When he died it was a really sad time in Poland.
Even now, when I am talking about it I get emotional. He was a great person for us. It is funny when people think of the Pope they don’t think of the new Pope but the old one.
He gave us a great faith and self-belief that we can prosper internationally as a nation.
Even when he was not healthy towards the end of his life he encouraged us to fight for our rights in our own country.
He was open to everybody.
It didn’t matter about what religion you were he wanted to help everybody. He had an open heart.
I remember when I was a kid he visited my home town (
Gdynia). I was sat on my dad’s shoulders and I had a flag. I was only about seven or eight years old.
If I met him I would like to ask him if he liked sport.
I know he loved skiing and when he visited Poland he would go to the mountains and ski.”
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