In 90 hours by racing bike to the Pope: Bremen charity pastor arrived

Pawel Nowak (39), a Catholic “racing bike pastor” from Bremen, arrived in St Peter’s Square on Tuesday evening – after around 90 hours with practically no sleep. He set off on the 1,600 kilometre tour on Saturday morning to collect donations for the children’s hospice “Löwenherz” in Syke near Bremen. On Wednesday, he plans to present Pope Leo XIV with letters from the young patients at the hospice during the general audience.

“Of course I want to collect donations with my campaign, and it’s a nice opportunity to shake the Pope’s hand,” Nowak told the Catholic News Agency (KNA). “But the most important thing for me would be to inspire others to fight against their own weaknesses or illnesses with my efforts and the fight against my weaknesses,” said the priest from near Krakow, who has been working in the diocese of Hildesheim since 2014.

The biggest challenge on the journey from Hildesheim through the whole of Germany, over the Alps to Rome was the weather: “At the Fernpass in Austria there was heavy rain at 7 degrees, at night it was really cold, and then suddenly behind a mountain it was quite warm, and since yesterday here in Italy it has been hot at over 30 degrees.”

He describes the hundred kilometres over the Appenine as the most difficult stage: “Narrow roads, tight bends, and then I also encountered wild boars,” says Nowak, who was supported by several families from his community in Bremen-Blumenthal in escort vehicles. He also had a puncture on his pink Colnago bike shortly before Garmisch; it is the same model that Tadej Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia in 2024.

He never thought about giving up. However, he had to make a spontaneous decision on Tuesday afternoon: “I drove the last hundred kilometres by car because I unexpectedly got the opportunity to be introduced to the Pope in person at the general audience on Wednesday,” explained Nowak. “But only if I picked up the tickets by a certain time on Tuesday. I would never have managed that by bike.”

Nowak, whose parents Leschek and Grazyna and brother Rafael have travelled from Poland, plans to stay in Rome until Saturday. Then the next challenge awaits from Monday in Sankt Georgen am Attersee: the Ultra Cycling World Championships around Austria: 2,200 kilometres, 30,000 metres in altitude, but comparatively easy in seven days.