In Poland, Pope John Paul II is THE national hero. Karol, as he was known in the old days, is quite the local boy: born in a nearby town, becoming bishop of Kraków at an outrageously young age. He’s the only Polish Pope ever, and the first non-Italian Pope since 1520.
Here we see JP I (the first?) under the famous window where JP II addressed the public during his Kraków visits. As JP I tries to replicate a papal wave, he encourages the spouse to take the picture quickly before “somebody lynches me”. A Polish passer-by just chuckles, resigned to every tourist taking the same clichéd photo. It’s a Polish Graceland.
