From Poland with love: Pope Leo reins in a royal Arabian gift

At his Wednesday morning general audience, Pope Leo’s face lit up with an unusually bright smile receiving a unique donation: Proton, a purebred Arabian horse from a prestigious Polish stable.

“When I saw your Holiness on a horse in Peru, I immediately took action!” Andrzej Michalski exclaimed after he, his son and nephew greeted the pope Oct. 15 at the Vatican, before giving him the striking white stallion.

Pope Leo XIV poses for a photo as he receives a purebred Arabian horse donated by a Polish horse breeder at the Vatican Oct. 15, 2025. The pope often traveled by horse when serving as a missionary in Peru. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

The gift is indeed unusual — Proton’s father came from the United States, and his mother was bought from a princess in Jordan. The horse was born in Janów Podlaski, Poland’s most prestigious Arabian horse breeder, and raised by Michalski in seaside Kolobrzeg in northwestern Poland, where he spent 11 years in a family-run stable.

“The Holy Father loves horses, because he rode for miles in Peru and is an excellent horseman,” Michalski told OSV News. “When I learned about this, it immediately dawned on me. The Holy Spirit came, and I immediately had the idea and began implementing the procedure to give the Holy Father a horse.”

And Proton is no ordinary horse.

It’s “one that Pope Leo would be completely satisfied with,” Michalski said. He is “a calm, yet beautiful horse,” Michalski said, “because, as we know, Arabians are the most beautiful.”

Receiving the unusual gift, Pope Leo smiled widely.

“He was very happy. He touched us all. He didn’t even want to part with it for long. We accompanied the horse to his popemobile, together with the Holy Father,” Michalski recalling the special moment, adding that “if the popemobile ever broke down, he could ride his horse into St. Peter’s Square.”

The Michalski Stud Farm is owned by a devout Catholic family — one of the show jumping venues is even named after St. John Paul II. Besides prestigious competitions, the Michalski family organizes horseback riding therapy sessions called hippotherapy.

Michalski said that if not for it being the general audience, “Pope Leo said he would happily jump on the horse,” and he is “planning to visit Castel Gandolfo to ride with the Holy Father” as “the pope said there is much more space there than in the Vatican.”

That’s where Proton headed to after the Wednesday audience — the Castel Gandolfo stables.