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'Pope John XXIII' (; ), born 'Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli' (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. He called the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) but did not live to see it to completion, dying on June 3, 1963, two months after the completion of his final encyclical, ''Pacem in Terris''. He was beatified on September 3, 2000, along with Pope Pius IX, the first popes since Pope St. Pius X to receive this honour. His feast day is October 11 in the Catholic Church, the day that Vatican II’s first session opened. He is also commemorated on June 3 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and on June 4 by the Anglican Church of Canada.

Contents

Life

Election as pope

Papacy

Pope John and papal ceremonial

Final months

Criticism

Legacy

Numbering

See also

References

Notes

External links

Life

Angelo Roncalli was born in Sotto il Monte, a small town in the Province of Bergamo, Italy. He was the firstborn son of Giovanni Battista Roncalli and his wife Marianna Giulia Mazzolla, and fourth in a family of 14. His family worked as sharecroppers, a striking contrast to his predecessor, Eugenio Pacelli, who came from an ancient aristocratic family, long connected to the Papacy.
In 1904, Roncalli was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo.
In 1905, Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, the new bishop of Bergamo, appointed Roncalli as his secretary. Roncalli worked for Radini-Tedeschi until the bishop's death in 1914. During this period Roncalli was also a teacher in the diocesan seminary.
During World War I, Roncalli was drafted into the Royal Italian Army as a sergeant, serving in the medical corps as a stretcher-bearer and as a chaplain.
In 1921, Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 Pope Pius XI appointed him as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, also naming him for consecration as titular bishop of Areopolis. He chose as his episcopal motto ''Obedientia et Pax'' ("Obedience and Peace"), which became his guiding motto.
In 1935 he was made Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece. Roncalli used this office to help the Jewish underground in saving thousands of refugees in Europe, leading some to consider him to be a Righteous Gentile. In 1944, during World War II, Pope Pius XII named him Apostolic Nuncio to Paris, France.
In 1953, he was named the Patriarch of Venice, and, accordingly, raised to the rank of cardinal. As a sign of his esteem, President Vincent Auriol of France claimed the ancient privilege possessed by French monarchs and bestowed the red hat on the now-Cardinal Roncalli at a ceremony in the Elysee Palace.

Election as pope

The 1958 papal conclave which elected Roncalli as pope was later surrounded by conspiracy theories claiming that a conservative cardinal, Giuseppe Siri, was the conclave's first choice for pope but was forced amid threats of pogroms against Roman Catholics in the Eastern Bloc to decline the papal tiara. The claim is accepted only by some separatist sedevacantist and conclavist groups.
The white smoke often had proven a confusing symbol in the past, leading John Paul II to decree the use of ringing bells in addition to the smoke after a papal election. It was even falsely claimed that Siri had even chosen a name, "Gregory XVII", and was preparing to appear at the balcony, but was threatened somehow and forced aside, leaving the cardinals free to elect Roncalli as Pope. One of his famous quotes was "be God's children, not his warriors".

Papacy

Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, and to his great surprise, Roncalli was elected Pope. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered that Archbishop Montini, Archbishop of Milan, was a possible candidate, but, although Archbishop of one of the most ancient and prominent Sees in Italy, Montini had not been appointed a cardinal.^[1] As a result, he was not present at the 1958 conclave and most of the cardinals abided by the established precedent of voting only for a member of the College of Cardinals, in spite of the affirmation in Canon Law that any Catholic male could be chosen. After the long pontificate of Pope Pius XII, the cardinals chose a man whom, it was presumed, because of his advanced age, would be a short-term or "stop-gap" pope. In John XXIII first consistory, Montini was raised to the rank of cardinal; and in time he was elected as John's successor, Paul VI.

John XXIII's personal warmth, good humor and kindness captured the world's affections in a way his predecessor, for all his great learning and personal holiness, had failed to do. While Pius would look slightly away and up from the camera whenever his photograph was taken, John would look directly at the camera and smile.
He undertook the first official acts of a Pope away from Vatican territory since 1870 on 25 December 1958, when he visited children suffering from polio at the Bambin Gesù hospital and then visited Santo Spirito Hospital. The next day he visited Rome's Regina Coeli prison, where he told the prisoners: "You could not come to me, so I came to you." These acts created a sensation, and he wrote in his diary:

...great astonishment in the Roman, Italian and international press. I was hemmed in on all sides: authorities, photographers, prisoners, wardens...^[2]

Far from being a mere "stop gap" Pope, to great excitement John called an ecumenical council fewer than ninety years after the controversial Vatican Council. Cardinal Montini remarked to a friend that "this holy old boy doesn't realize what a hornet's nest he's stirring up".^[3] From the Second Vatican Council, (colloquially known as "Vatican II"), came changes that reshaped the face of Catholicism: a comprehensively revised Liturgy, a stronger emphasis on ecumenism, and a new approach to the world.
He met Geoffrey Francis Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury, for about an hour in the Vatican on December 2, 1960. It was the first time in over 400 years, since the excommunication of Elizabeth I, that the Archbishop of Canterbury had met with the Pope.

Pope John and papal ceremonial

Main articles: Papal coronation


Pope John XXIII was the last pope to use full papal ceremony, much of which was abolished subsequently after Vatican II. His papal coronation ran for the traditional five hours (Pope Paul VI, by contrast, opted for a shorter ceremony, while later popes declined to be crowned). However, as with his predecessor Pope Pius XII, he chose to have the coronation itself take place on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, in view of the crowds assembled in St. Peter's Square.
John XXIII wore a number of tiaras from the papal collection. On formal occasions, such as giving the ''Urbi et Orbi'' blessing, he wore the traditional 1877 Palatine tiara he had been crowned with. However, on other occasions he wore the lighter and more comfortable 1922 tiara of Pope Pius XI, which he used so often that it became strongly associated with him.
As with most other popes in the last two decades up to that point, he was given an expensive silver papal tiara by the people of Bergamo. The Tiara of Pope John XXIII, the lightest in the papal collection at 2 lb (900 g), was given to him eventually in 1959. When asked about the tiara during its manufacture, John asked that the makers halve the number of jewels with which they planned to decorate it and give the financial saving to the poor.
Traditional Pontifical High Masses and most papal ceremonial aspects—including use of the ''flabelli'' (ceremonial fans made of ostrich feathers) and the Palatine Guard—and the saluting of the pope on his arrival at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica by the playing of trumpets were abolished by Pope Paul VI in phases during his reign. None of the tiaras associated with Pope John have been worn by later popes.
While maintaining the traditional papal ceremonial, Pope John continued his predecessor's policy of a gradual reform to the Roman liturgy, the last such reform of that rite before the major reform of the liturgy after Vatican II.
Pope John was also the last pope to date to have his Requiem Mass celebrated within St. Peter's Basilica, amid traditional papal pomp. His successor, Pope Paul VI, abolished the traditional papal funeral and had his funeral as a simple concelebrated Mass in St. Peter's Square.

Final months

Pope John XXIII was first diagnosed with stomach cancer on September 23, 1962. The diagnosis, which was kept from the public, followed nearly eight years of occasional stomach hemorrhages, and reduced the pontiff's appearances. Looking pale and drawn during these events, he gave a hint to his ultimate fate in April 1963, when he said to visitors, "That which happens to all men perhaps will happen soon to the Pope who speaks to you today."
On May 11, 1963, the Italian president Antonio Segni awarded Pope John XXIII the Balzan Prize for his engagement for peace. It was the Pope's last public appearance.
On May 25, 1963, the Pope suffered another hemorrhage and required blood transfusions, but peritonitis soon set in, resulting in his death at 7:49 p.m. (local time) on June 3 at the age of 81. He was buried on June 6, ending a reign of four years, seven months and six days.
On December 6, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award, in recognition of the good relationship between Pope John and the United States.

Criticism

Sedevacantist and Conclavist groups have been some of Pope John's most outspoken critics. Some groups have even made unsubstantiated claims that John was a Freemason, and as such, allegedly could not be a valid Pope since Catholics are prohibited from joining Freemasonry under pain of excommunication. On that basis one group, the U.S. Washington State-based ''true Catholic Church'' elected its only priest as "pope" in 1998, claiming that there had been no valid pope since Pope Pius XII died in 1958.
Some also make the claim that John's choice of regnal name marked him as an antipope, as the name John had lain unused since Antipope John XXIII used it in the 15th century (other Popes have similarly used names taken by anti-popes, for example Benedict XIV).
Many who subscribe to the teachings of Our Lady of Fatima also believe that Pope John deliberately withheld secret prophetic information revealed by an apparition of the Virgin Mary. [1] This is perhaps the basis for internet reports in the late 1990s about the supposed discovery of Pope John's diary where he received prophetic insight into the future, including the return of Jesus in New York in 2000. [2]
Although Pope John did have a diary, there is no evidence in it to suggest that he received apocalyptic visions of the future. [3]

Legacy

Known affectionately as "Good Pope John" and "the most loved Pope in history" to many people, on September 3, 2000 John was declared "Blessed" by Pope John Paul II, the penultimate step on the road to sainthood. Following his beatification, his body was moved from its original burial place in the grottoes below St Peter's Basilica to the Altar of St. Jerome and displayed for the veneration of the faithful.
At the time, the body was observed to be extremely well-preserved—a condition which the Church ascribes to the lack of oxygen in his sealed triple coffin rather than to any miraculous event (although it was certainly seen as such by many of the faithful). When John was moved, the original vault — which was above the floor — was removed. A new vault was built beneath the ground, and Pope John Paul II was later buried in this vault.
He is honored by many Protestant organizations as a Christian reformer. Both Anglican and Lutheran denominations commemorate John XXIII as a "renewer of the church." The then fiercely anti-Catholic Belfast City Council flew the flag over city hall at half-mast in his honor after his death.
From his early teens, he maintained a diary of spiritual reflections that was subsequently published as ''Journal of a Soul''. The collection of writings charts Roncalli's efforts as a young man to "grow in holiness" and continue after his election to the Papacy. It remains widely read.

Numbering

The previous Pope named John was Pope John XXII. The Pope named John before that was John XXI. But the last Pope named John before that was Pope John XIX (1024–1032), who was additionally the eighteenth Pope named John. And there is no Pope John XX. This is due to John XVI having been an anti-pope, and the confusion caused by historians mistakenly believing the legend of a Pope named John between John XIV and John XV.

See also

★ Ecumenism

★ Orthodox Church

★ Eastern Catholic Church

★ Byzantine Discalced Carmelites

★ Desert Fathers

References

★ Peter Hebblethwaite & Margaret Hebblethwaite, ''John XXIII: Pope of the Century'' (Continuum International, 2000) ISBN 0-8264-4995-6

★ Malachi Martin, ''The Keys of this Blood'' (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1991)

★ Pope John XXIII, ''Journal of a Soul'' ("Giovanni XXIII Il Giornale dell' Anima".) (trans. Dorothy White, 1965) Geoffrey Chapman ISBN 0-225-66895-5

★ Paul L. Williams, ''The Vatican Exposed'' (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003) ISBN 1-59102-065-4

Notes

1. ''Pope Paul VI : 1963 – 1978'', Retrieved 28 February 2006.
2. Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World, , Peter, Hebblethwaite, Image Books, 1987,
3. See ''inter alia'' George Weigel, "Thinking Through Vatican II", ''First Things'', June/July, 2001.

External links

★ Vatican biography

★ Official Homepage of the Birthplace House of the Blessed Pope John XXIII

★ John XXIII was embalmed; Vatican denies he is subject of miracle of incorruptibility

★ Advocating John XXIII as Righteous Among the Nations

★ Monument to John XXIII

★ Homily by Pope John Paul II from Pope John XXIII beatification mass

★ Pope John XXIII: text with concordances and frequency list

★ [4]

★ Pope John XXIII's Multilingual Opera Omnia
;Video on YouTube — Italian Documentaries (English Subtitled)

★ Iohannes XXIII: the good Pope — part 1 of 2

★ Iohannes XXIII: the good Pope — part 2 of 2

★ Pope Iohannes XXIII: pontificate and council — part 1

★ Pope Iohannes XXIII: pontificate and death — part 2