Mario. Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you very much for having me. It's an honor and a pleasure. And as you can see, I do not need an haircut. 

Clearly, you do not.

I didn't know you had met Bishop before.

Yes. Uh The last time I met him, uh we were, we were in Rome. Happens that we were in Rome together. Yes. And, and it was a pleasure and an honor for me to get to

the pleasure and the honor was all mine, Mario.

Yeah. Nice try. But, you know, once upon a time, I used to have a long blonde pony tail that I would wear. And uh you know, I guess that uh I don't regret not having it right now because, you know, no haircuts for me. 

Well, people get a copy of your book. They'll see you in your younger days.

Well, absolutely, you're right. You know, but I'm still ruggedly handsome.

Hey, can you tell us a bit about your service as a member of the Swiss Guard?

Right. So, well, first of all, to become a Swiss Guard, you have to be Swiss and you know, that Switzerland is not Sweden, right? The, the Swedish fish candy. They are from Sweden, not from Switzerland. Ok. And uh I am a unique Swiss guard because I was born and raised in Italy. Ok. Because my mom is Italiana and my dad is Swiss and I was born and raised in a little village called Soto El Monte in Bergamo, near Bergamo, between Bergamo and Milano. And guess who is also from Soho El Monte? Saint Pope John the 23rd. So imagine so imagine my joy when on April 27 2014, Pope Francis canonized the man that I protected as a Swiss guard for almost 40 years. Saint Pope John Paul the second and the man that I dated two of his nieces, Saint Pope John the 23rd,

that's an amazing story. And you know, everybody loves a Swiss guard. So uh it's great to have you on the show and across the world, people are delighted now to celebrate the memory and the Centenary of a beloved Pope John Paul the second a saint. Uh What was your motivation in writing your book?

Well, for the so since when I arrived in the United States, I I had the privilege of giving talks, you know, for men conferences, youth group confirmation classes. And people will say, oh you should write a book and put your story so that if we cannot come to your talk, we can actually uh get to them later. And so I listen to my wife who also birth today is on May 18. So the men that I serve and my wife share a birth today. And so I I decided to celebrate his 100 birth today, publishing this simple book, which it's a book in which I relate stories and lessons that I learned from my personal encounters with him. So that I will generate, I would say an awareness for people to either discover Saint Pope John Paul the second or, or rediscover Saint John Paul the second and then do some self learning like we are all doing right now through this pandemic and maybe read some of these documents and watch some of these videos during audiences and so on and so forth.

And Mario, I was really fortunate that I actually met uh Pope John Paul II, the saint uh a couple of times. But we we we all saw him. He was hugely popular. What was he like on a personal level?

He was.. in the book I define him as the man of simplicity. So every single time I had the privilege of interacting with him sometime, maybe just for a few seconds, sometimes over a meal. When we were in Castel Gandolfo, he laughed, he was funny, but at the same time, he was intense. In other words, any subject that we will discuss, you knew that he had something that I didn't have and So I was always paying attention to what he was saying. I was looking at how he gesture his hands. I knew that what he had. I wanted it either his sense of humor, his simplicity, his fate. He was a great guy. And you know what a secret that I always tell people. I have two saints that know my name, Saint Pope John Paul the second and Mother Teresa. And the common that I have in between the two of them is when they were talking to me, they were entirely focused on me. And I believe that that is a uniqueness of a saint, how they can focus on one person at a time. 

The book I served the saint has some great endorsements including Archbishop Vigneron of Detroit, who's an advocate of Catholic TV. Uh What's the reaction been so far? Well,

so far everybody that uh already got the book. Uh They are emailing me saying, thank you very much. You made me laugh, you gave me goosebumps. You know, I decided to uh put stories there. And then I sent the book out to some of my friends, Cardinal Sean o'malley, Archbishop Vigneron, archbishop Hebda, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. They all endorsed the book and uh they said, thank you Mario for making in, in such a simple way and access to the life of a great saint. And yes, the book is full of stories. And uh I believe that the message at the end is the following. Let's all ask the Lord for the graves to be courageous, baptized men and women because that's what Saint Paul. John Paul the second told me to not be afraid because God is one day ahead of

us. Are there any treasured memories, Mario that you have between you and Pope Saint John Paul the second?

Oh, yeah, I have many, many memories. I think I briefly in 10 seconds, 20 seconds to the first one is the 1st, 1st, 1st time I met him one on one. He was walking by on the Terao. It ch you know where that is where the Secretary of state is. And when he walked by, they had alert me, you have to close the door, block the elevator. I went up in my attention and when he arrived, it stopped and he looked at me and he said, you must be a, you wonder. And when, and when he said that, you know, I came out of my attention, I went with my hand because I wanted to shake his hand and introduce myself. And I did so for 78 seconds, I said my name. And while he was holding my hand, he grabbed my hand also with his left hand. So he sandwiched my hand and he said, well, Mario, thank you for choosing to serve, who serves. And then he left. And so that day I started thinking he is a leader. He is a servant leader. And uh what is uh a secret of servant leadership? Well, this is the second story, Saint Pope John Paul, the second once told to a group of priests and seminarians that to be priest, first and foremost, it means to be men for others. And when he said that he said, you know how anybody can be a man for others. Be more, do not do more but be more that really changed my heart. Because what he said with these two words, be more. I believe he gave me a chance to rediscover the, the beauty and the power of my own chari. Remembering that no gift given is meant for ourselves, but it is even for the good of the church and our mission.

Well, Mario, we appreciate you being with us. Uh Where can people follow your work in education? You get a copy of the book if you can hold a book up too as you tell us.

Yes. So um the book, you know, I was blessed that before the pandemic, uh the the publisher which is Newman House was already the book was out. So you can get on Amazon or if you wanna know more. I even have a simple website that is WW dot I serve as saint.com and so you can get the book. If there, you know, there are buttons through Amazon, through the publisher, you can see some other endorsement and I will uh update the website where I'll be going to give talks to parishes presenting the book or uh articles that they might be published all of it so that we can enhance Saint Pope John Paul, the San Sanit. Well,

Mario, what a pleasure having you on today. Thanks for taking time to join us and you make sure you stay safe and Well,

thank you very much to both of you and Chowchow with Chin

Mario Grazier.

Well, now I see what you mean.