"We left at nine in the morning, in Father Jozef's car, so that the Swiss Guards wouldn't get suspicious," wrote Dziwisz, referring to Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, who is today the papal nuncio, or representative of the Vatican, in Poland.
As the vehicle left the pope's residence at Castel Gandolfo, another Polish priest in the passenger seat "pretended to read a newspaper in order to hide the Holy Father," who was sitting in the back of the car with Dziwisz.
Once they reached the ski resort of Ovindoli, the pope acted "like just another ordinary skier," wrote Dziwisz.
"He was dressed like everyone else: ski suit, hat, goggles. He stood in the queue just like everyone else, although for security reasons one of us stood in front of him and another behind him.
"He took the lifts with a ski pass. It seemed unbelievable that nobody recognized him. But then who would have thought that the pope could go skiing just like that?"
(From the book of Card. Stanislaw Dsiwizs, A Life With Carol)
