Tim Keenan | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Northville — Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka says to know he worked closely at the Vatican with Blessed Pope John Paul II is “moving and inspiring” for the former Detroit archbishop.

Although his health will prevent him from making the long journey to Rome for the April 27 festivities, Cardinal Szoka’s eyes will be glued to the television with the rest of the Catholic world on Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast the Polish pontiff instituted, when Blessed John Paul and Blessed Pope John XXIII will be canonized saints.

Although he was made bishop of Gaylord by Pope Paul VI, most of his career was directed by Pope John Paul II, who appointed him as archbishop of Detroit, elevated him to the College of Cardinals and called him to the Eternal City to lead the Prefecture for Economic Affairs before naming Cardinal Szoka president of the government of Vatican City State.

“I worked very closely with him for 16 years, from 1990 until his death in 2005,” Cardinal Szoka said. “I got to know him very, very well and I was convinced he was a saint while he was alive. He was a remarkable person. It’s very moving, exciting and inspiring for me to know that I worked with and was so close to a saint. I pray to him every day.”

Cardinal Szoka said he often had lunch with the Holy Father if the pope’s schedule prevented a private audience. It was during these lunches and at other times that the former Detroit archbishop saw the new saint’s humanity as well as his holiness.

“The lunches were better because I had more time,” the cardinal recalled. “The only trouble was I had to explain the finances or some other business to him and he would sit there and eat and because I was doing all the talking, I couldn’t eat.”

According to the cardinal, when he was conversing with the pope on a personal level they spoke Polish, but for business they spoke Italian.

“One day I said, ‘Holy Father can we speak in Italian since I don’t know all of these terms in Polish?’” Cardinal Szoka remembered. “He said, ‘I don’t know them either,’ which put me at ease.”

“When I was president of the Vatican City State, and I’d go there for lunch, he’d give me a little courtesy because I was the president,” the cardinal said with an affectionate chuckle. “He knew he could joke with me. There were a lot of little human touches about him that I’ll never forget.”

There also were times, the cardinal said, that he knew he was in the presence of someone very holy.

“He prayed all day long, spent hours in prayer, yet had all these audiences and all of this kind of work,” Cardinal Szoka said. “I always marveled at how he could find time to do all that. His priest secretary once told me he was able to do all that because he never wasted a minute.

“I was with him one time at the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Poland and he was lost in prayer before the Madonna,” he said. “His secretary finally had to tap him on the shoulder and tell him it was time to go. He was very contemplative but at the same time very active. His whole day was filled with prayer and work. He was very sensitive to people, very kind and considerate.”

His eminence was also blessed with the opportunity to spend time with the future saint during his last days.

“There were three doctors on one side of the bed taking care of him,” Cardinal Szoka said. “The nuns who were his housekeepers were there praying. It was a very moving experience to be with him at that point in his life.

“He went through a lot of suffering, but I never heard him complain or say anything negative,” Cardinal Szoka recalled. “That’s really remarkable.”

Cardinal Szoka’s Northville home is filled with mementos of his long service to the Church, many of which are from his time in Rome with Pope John Paul II. Above his mantle is a framed print of the Holy Father, the mention of which brings about a story.

“One Sunday afternoon he came to my apartment for lunch,” the cardinal said proudly. “I invited him and he came. He brought that picture and signed it in Polish, a personal greeting. Those were great days in Rome.”

Cardinal Szoka also studied in Rome in the late 1950s when he encountered the other successor to St. Peter who will become a saint on Divine Mercy Sunday.

“I was a priest student in Rome from 1957 to 1959,” the cardinal said. “Pius XII died in 1958 and John XXIII was elected. I was living at the graduate house of the North American College, and one day they had an audience for us with the new pope. We all got a chance to kiss his ring, and I saw him on some other occasions.

“The people had a great affection for him. He was known as Good Pope John. I wasn’t that close to him but I certainly liked him. He was a great pioneer for the Church.”