Rarely has a pope been seen laughing out loud in public. That's what these two artists made happen
All this happened during meetings between the pontiff and hundreds of young students participating in a convention for university students in Rome, promoted by Opus Dei. These performances are from the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s. The stars of the show were two students. One of them is now a priest.
CARLOS TORRIJOS
Magician
Saint John Paul II liked the simple humor of a normal clown, one of those we have seen on television, in a circus. We were analyzing what things made him enjoy more, laugh more, and they were simple things, simple humor, nothing complex or very elaborate. The clown's feelings or the situations in which emotions were expressed, St. John Paul II connected with that immediately.
Performances like this one were repeated in up to six different years. In them the famous clown and his assistants would experience a unique connection with John Paul II.
CARLOS TORRIJOS
Magician
And then there was another time when I was looking at Saint John Paul II, which was when we had hypnotized this musician, this singer, this El Tuno. And we had him hypnotized there and to show that there was nothing holding him from above or below, Diego began to pass underneath him. And I looked at the pope and saw that he was so red, with so much laughter, that tears came to his eyes, that there was a moment when I really thought that we had to stop, because otherwise it could end badly.
DIEGO POOLE
Japo
He laughed so much, so much, so much, that he almost fell off his chair, to such an extent, that the following year, one of the chiefs of the Swiss Guard came to me and told me, that last year's event should not be repeated. And I asked him what happened last year and he told me that we feared for the health of the Holy Father because he was laughing so much. He said it, obviously, in a joking tone, but it is true, there are no filmed images of the Pope laughing so much, and this was said by the Vatican spokesman at the time.
The artists say that during these meetings the participants wanted to go beyond a formal meeting and do something more familiar. Some, like Diego, had their doubts about whether to do it or not, but in the end they decided to do it and, in this way, they gave the world some unique and unpublished images.
JH
