Here’s a video that shows why Pope John Paul II is considered by some as a ‘patron’ of environmental issues and the outdoors. It is well known that the Pope loved to be outdoors, and did some  of his early apostolate canoeing and hiking as a young priest. I also heard from Vatican insiders that  he occasionally ‘escaped’  and went skiing, as Pope, in the Italian Alps.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd57jrgCHHs]