Pope John Paul II

(From Born Round)

Grandma with me at my Columbia graduation. She's not standing in a hole. She was simply that short

Wherever Pope John Paul II went, I went: to Guatemala, Croatia, Poland. Poland was something else. As a gesture of respect for the Pope, any city or town he visited there went dry, at least officially, for the duration of his stay. But veterans in the Vatican press corps found ways around this temporary prohibition. They packed their own flasks of whisky and vodka, and if you were nice enough to them, they shared. Or they sweet-talked waiters into serving them alcoholic drinks that didn’t look like alcoholic drinks. On a papal trip to Poland, the screwdriver suddenly became every reporter’s cocktail of choice. To the naked eye, at least, it was just a glass of orange juice.