Pope's Skis Are Holy Relics

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2013/07/08/popes-skis-holy-relics

Once Pope John Paul II was cannonized a saint, all of his past possessions became holy relics. This includes the “one luxury item he acquired in life” a pair of 195cm Head skis.

The Pontiff’s skis became a second-class relic once he was canonised.

A first-class relic is an items directly associated with the events of Christ’s life ( manger, cross, etc.), or the physical remains of a saint (a bone, a hair, skull, a limb, etc.). A second-class relic is something once owned by a saint.

Pope John Paul II was a lifelong skier who had been quoted as saying “It’s unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly.”

In his youth, and into middle age, Wojtyla had a reputation as an earn-your-turns kind of guy. An indefatigable hiker and kayaker, he scorned lifts and preferred to climb on his hickory skis.

He made his last runs at the Italian resort of Terminillo, a short commute from the Vatican.

Here follows a short piece from the March, 1979 issue of SKI.

The Vatican Skier

A Pontiff whose non-papal piety runs to the mountains, Pope John Paul II’s next ski descent has already been labelled the ‘Schuss of the Fisherman.’

BY JOHN HOWARD

Vatican life has its protocol-and Vatican officials are not known to enjoy surprises. It was therefore with some astonishment that they greeted Pope John Paul II’s pronouncement, just seconds after his inauguration as the 264th successor to St. Peter and Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, that “I will ski again when they let me.”

The Polish Pope’s comment to a well-wisher came as he descended into St. Peter’s Square to meet his new people-and, so far as the for- mer Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was concerned, it was in earnest. 

The Pope, his energies now devoted to papal affairs of state, would be missing out on those winter vacations he had regularly taken in Poland’s Tatra Mountains. 

There was, he supposed, some consolation-the Pope would at least be able to see the ski mountains of Terminillo, 20 miles to the north of Rome, from the windows of the papal apartments, the same mountains he had been known to slip away to for some skiing while attending Vatican conferences in Rome as a Cardinal.

Karol Wojtyla was a humble man who confessed his one luxury in life has been “a pair of Head skis.” His ski socks were initialed “K.W.”, embroidered not so much in priestly affectation as to insure his getting his socks back from the laundry.

The Pope, at 58, was an excellent skier-those who have skied with him call him the “Daredevil of the Tatras”-who has skied for most of his life but didn't take up the sport seriously until age 30. 

His favorite ski haunt was Kasprowy Wierch in Poland, the peak above Zacapone where a wrong turn could send an inexperienced skier bodily over a sheer drop into Czechoslovakia. Hala Gasienicowa-called the Valley of the Caterpillar because of its zigzag terrain-is the Pope’s favorite ski run.

Upon his arrival at the Vatican, Wojtyla told the Italian cardinals, “In Poland, 40% of the cardinals ski.” When it was pointed out to him that Poland had only 2 cardinals, Wojtyla explained, “Cardinal Wyszynski accounts for 60%.” 

He later expressed his love of skiing to a journalist by saying, “I wish I could be out there somewhere in the mountains, racing down into a valley. It’s an extraordinary sensation.”

Will Pope John Paul II ski again? Says Wojtyla, “It would be impossible for me not to.”