Karol Józef Cardinal Wojtyła on a visit to Australia
I came across this delightful photo of Blessed John Paul II this afternoon. I presume it was taken in Australia and not in a zoo. He travelled widely long before he became Pope John Paul II. I think it's a kangaroo he's feeding and not a wallaby. He and the marsupial seem to be enthusiastically engaged in this 'inter-species dialogue'!
As someone living in the Philippines, where mangos are plentiful, I was interested in this little item from Fides, the Vatican-based news agency:
AMERICA / MEXICO - John Paul II an admirer of mango
Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - Mango, tropical fruit that grows in Latin America, was without doubt one of the favourite fruit of Pope John Paul II, who tasted it for the first time during his trip to Mexico. Considering how much he liked it, in each of his following pastoral visits, those in charge of hospitality always prepared for the Pope fresh and different dishes using this fruit. Fr. Daniel Villalobos, who was one of the people closest to Cardinal Corripio Ahumada, Archbishop Primate of Mexico, witnessed not only how much the Holy Father John Paul II enjoyed this tropical fruit, but the concern of the Archbishop, who periodically sent to Rome, some boxes of mangos so there were always some on the Pope`s table
"Even when the Holy Father was already very sick - Fr. Villalobos said in a statement sent to Fides by the Archdiocese of Mexico on the occasion of the forthcoming beatification of John Paul II - Cardinal Corripio, through a friend, sent him mangos. To check that His Holiness had received them, he asked the present Cardinal Leonardo Sandri for information, who had been nuncio in Mexico, and at that time was Deputy Secretary of State. "In Mexico there are some popular sayings that connect Pope John Paul II with two states of Mexico: Oaxaca and Veracruz, and the mangos produced in their own land were sent to the Pope at the Vatican. (EC) (Agenzia Fides 28/04/2011)
Mangos from Sind, Pakistan, where Columbans work
Filipinos have a great love for Blessed John Paul II. I wonder why they let the Mexicans supply him with this delicious fruit?! The mango is indigenous to the Indian sub-continent and I presume it reached the Philippines before it did Mexico.
The Church in the Philippines was initially part of the Diocese/Archdiocese of Mexico.