Remembering Good Pope John

Today we remember the memorial of St. Pope John XXIII:


Everyone remembers the image of Pope John’s smiling face and two outstretched arms embracing the whole world. How many people were won over by his simplicity of heart, combined with a broad experience of people and things! The breath of newness he brought certainly did not concern doctrine, but rather the way to explain it; his style of speaking and acting was new, as was his friendly approach to ordinary people and to the powerful of the world. It was in this spirit that he called the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, thereby turning a new page in the Church’s history Christians heard themselves called to proclaim the Gospel with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to the “signs” of the times. The Council was a truly prophetic insight of this elderly Pontiff who, even amid many difficulties, opened a season of hope for Christians and for humanity. In the last moments of his earthly life, he entrusted his testament to the Church: “What counts the most in life is blessed Jesus Christ, his holy Church, his Gospel, truth and goodness”. - Pope John Paul II


Read more about him here.

St. John XXIII: Pope of Innocence and Goodness

Feast of the day: Saint John XXIII

The following comes from the Patron Saints Index:

Born to an Italian peasant family. Educated at Bergamo and the Pontifical Roman Seminary. Ordained on 10 August 1904. Secretary to the bishop of Bergamo, Italy from 1904 to 1914, during which he wrote the basis for his five-volume biography of Saint Charles Borromeo. Served in World War I in the medical corps, and as a chaplain. Worked in Rome, Italy after the war, and reorganized the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Titular archbishop of Areopolis on 3 March 1925. Vatican diplomatic representative to Bulgaria on 16 October 1931, then to Turkey and Greece on 12 January 1935. Titular archbishop of Mesembria on 30 November 1934. Papal nuncio to France on 23 December 1944 where he mediated between conservative and socially radical clergy. Created cardinal on 12 January 1953, and patriarch of Venice, Italy on 15 January 1953. Elected 261st pope on 28 October 1958.

As pope he stressed his own pastoral duties as well as those of other bishops and clergy. Promoted social reforms for workers, poor people, orphans, and the outcast. He advanced cooperation with other faiths and traditions including Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Church of England, and even Shinto. In April 1959 he forbade Catholics to vote for parties supporting Communism. His encyclical, Mater et Magistra of 14 July 1961 advocated social reform, assistance to underdeveloped countries, a living wage for all workers, and support for socialist measures that promised real benefit to society.

He nearly doubled the number of cardinals, making the college the largest in history. On 25 January 1959, he announced his intent to call a council to consider ways to renew the Church in the modern world, promote diversity within the unity of the Church, and consider reforms promoted by ecumenical and liturgical movements. Convening the council, known as Vatican II, on 11 October 1962, was the high point of his reign.

His heartiness, his overflowing love for humanity individually and collectively, and his freshness of approach to ecclesiastical affairs made John one of the best-loved popes of modern times.

A Quote from St. John XXIII

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." ― Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII on Advent

The Mother of Jesus

St. John XXIII's secretary tells tales of his famous boss

(CNS)  When the freshly named patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo G. Roncalli, chose 37-year old Father Loris F. Capovilla as his personal secretary in 1953, a skeptical adviser told the cardinal that the priest looked too sickly to bear the strain of his new job.

"Then he'll die as my secretary," replied the future pope, now known as Blessed John XXIII.

Today, at age 96, now-Archbishop Capovilla has outlived his employer by nearly half a century, but remains an indefatigable custodian of his legacy. Here in Blessed John's birthplace, about 25 miles northeast of Milan, the archbishop pursues a highly active retirement that includes running a museum dedicated to the small town's most famous native son.

While keeping up with current events, Archbishop Capovilla draws on his remarkable memory to recount vividly detailed and revealing stories of his years with one of the most consequential figures in modern Catholic history.

The archbishop was privy to some of the pope's first remarks, only a few days after his election in 1958, about what would become the Second Vatican Council.

Cardinals and bishops had presented the new pontiff with a litany of challenges before the church -- "not doctrinal but pastoral problems," the archbishop notes -- in areas that included the liturgy, diplomacy, and the education and discipline of priests.

"My desk is piling up with problems, questions, requests, hopes," Blessed John told his secretary. "What's really necessary is a council."

Though the pope mentioned the idea more than once, his secretary refused to comment. Finally the pope gave his interpretation of the priest's silence.

"You think I am old," Blessed John told him. "You think I'll make a mess out of this enormous task, that I don't have time. ... But that's not how you think with faith. ... If one can only begin with the preparatory commission, that will be of great merit. If one dies, another will come. It is a great honor even to begin."

Whatever doubts he may have had at the outset, Archbishop Capovilla came to appreciate the council's historic importance and to play a part in it behind the scenes.

It was the archbishop, in his own telling, who persuaded a reluctant and tired Blessed John to step to a window and bless the crowd in St. Peter's Square on the night of Oct. 11, 1962, following the council's first day. In now-famous remarks, the pope went on to bid the people: "Now go back home and give your little children a kiss -- tell them it is from Pope John."
Blessed John, who had earlier represented the Holy See as a diplomat in both Orthodox and Muslim lands, had a special appreciation of the church's global character and responsibilities, Archbishop Capovilla says.

The pope greatly admired the United States, especially for its racial and cultural diversity, and explicitly looked to the American-sponsored United Nations as a source of inspiration for Vatican II, Archbishop Capovilla says.

The archbishop also recalls that Blessed John received a letter from the Anglo-American poet Thomas Merton, then a Trappist monk in Kentucky, urging the pope to include an ecumenical dimension in the council. In fact, Vatican II would be the first council of the church to include Protestants as guests.

The pope was a master of modern communication in a personal, popular style that broke with papal tradition just in time for the television age.

When a cardinal complained that due to a recent rise in Vatican salaries a mere usher earned as much as he did, Blessed John remarked: "That usher has 10 children; I hope the cardinal doesn't."

The pope's ebullience was evident even in moments ordinarily governed by the strictest protocol. Receiving Queen Elizabeth II of England, with whom he conversed in French, the pope asked her to say her children's names aloud, "because children's names acquire a particular sweetness on a mother's lips."


The pope gave his secretary a lesson in communication when commenting on a speech by then-Cardinal Giovanni Montini of Milan, who would eventually succeed him as Pope Paul VI.

"He's used to speaking to intellectuals, he doesn't look at who's in front of him," the pope said. "Remember when you speak, if there are children present, as soon as you see the children start to swing their legs, it means they're tired. And adults are children, too; they listen for a quarter-hour or 20 minutes, that's it."

For all the changes that Blessed John ushered into the church, and notwithstanding arguments that his reign marked a radical break with the past, Archbishop Capovilla says that the pope saw himself as acting in full continuity with Catholicism's millennial teachings and traditions.

"Precisely because he was a great conservative," the archbishop says, "he was able to bring the world a message of love, of hope and of faith.

Catholics celebrate canonizations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II

Fr. Robert Barron on Pope John Paul II and John XXIII: Two Radical, Converted Disciples

Thomas Merton on Pope John XXIII

"Pope John died yesterday. A holy and good man, and he was both because he was first of all a man — that is to say, human. This is the great meaning of his papacy, of the Council, of Pacem in Terris. Not humanism, “but the bare statement of the fundamental value of humanity.” Pacem in Terris is not theological. It simply says war is unhuman, and therefore a sin — (not war is a sin and therefore you must not use the bomb). Certainly everyone loved him, and statements to this effect, despite the fact that language is too exhausted to convey it, are probably sincere. May he rest in peace, this great and good Father, whom I certainly loved, and who had been good to me, sending me the stole and many blessings. And I don’t think he has stopped being a father to us, to me. He will one day be canonized, I think (if we last that long), and I do not hesitate to ask his intercession now." 

Turning Toward the World: The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume Four, 1960-1963

Perspectives Daily: Canonization of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II

Fr. Robert Barron on the Golden Age of the Papacy

The following comes from Zenit:

On Divine Mercy Sunday, in the presence of Pope Francis, his living predecessor Benedict XVI, and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world, the Church celebrated the canonization of Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II.

In the weeks leading up to Sunday's event, the faithful were invited to recall the examples of holiness demonstrated by these 20th century leaders of the Church, as well as their significant historical legacies.

Fr. Robert Barron is the rector of the Chicago Archdiocese's Mundelein Seminary, and the founder of the online initiative Word On Fire Catholic Ministries. While he was in Rome for the canonizations, he sat down with ZENIT to speak about these two newly-declared saints.

ZENIT: What can we learn from John XXIII and John Paul II about sainthood? Obviously, they had extraordinary lives insofar that they were both popes. At the same time, not all popes are saints…

Fr. Barron: …and not all saints are popes. To be a saint is to be a person of heroic virtue. These are world historical figures, but if that was the qualification for sainthood, then the Little Flower [St. Therese] wouldn’t be a saint, for example.

That’s a good point of meditation. What makes them saints is that they are people of heroic virtue. You’re looking at the cardinal virtues of justice, and prudence, and temperance and courage. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. The Church says these men exemplify those virtues in a heroic way.

A couple of examples: think of John XXIII saving upwards of, they think, 24,000 or 25,000 Jews during the Nazi period, all at great risk to himself. Justice and courage are both on pretty strong display there.

[Look at] John Paul’s commitment to justice: he’s one of the great spokespersons of the 20th century. He displayed extraordinary courage: as a young kid dealing with the Nazi occupation, as a young priest, dealing with the communists, going to Poland as Pope and speaking truth in the midst of this oppression.

Read the rest here.

Fr. Robert Barron reflects on the Canonization

Pope Francis: John Paul II and John XXIII were brave and hopeful

Pope Francis: Christ’s wounds are sign of God’s love

The following comes from EWTN:

At the canonization mass for Popes John Paul II and John XXIII on Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of Christ’s suffering as a visible sign of divine love.

“The wounds of Jesus are a scandal, a stumbling block for faith, yet they are also the test of faith. That is why on the body of the risen Christ the wounds never pass away: they remain, for those wounds are the enduring sign of God’s love for us,” the pontiff said in his homily on April 27.

500,000 pilgrims packed into St. Peter’s square on the cloudy Sunday morning while 300,000 filled the surrounding neighborhood. They had travelled from all over the world to attend the Divine Mercy Sunday mass at which John Paul II and John XXIII were declared saints.

Pope Francis reflected on Sunday’s gospel passage recounting the story of “doubting Thomas” who refused to believe in the risen Christ’s appearance to the disciples, noting that only after Thomas was able to touch the wounds of Christ did he have faith.

Jesus’ wounds “are essential for believing in God,” stressed Pope Francis. “Not for believing that God exists, but for believing that God is love, mercy and faithfulness.”

“John XXIII and John Paul II were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Jesus, to touch his torn hands and his pierced side. They were not ashamed of the flesh of Christ, they were not scandalized by him, by his cross; they did not despise the flesh of their brother, because they saw Jesus in every person who suffers and struggles.”

The two newest saints of the Church “were priests, bishops and popes of the twentieth century. They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them,” said Pope Francis.

“These were two men of courage, filled with the ‘boldness’ of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy.”

John XXIII and John Paul II's faithfulness to Christ was an acknowledgement of their belief that “God was more powerful” than any of the evils they faced,adding that "the mercy of God, shown by those five wounds (of Christ) was more powerful; and more powerful too was the closeness of Mary our Mother."

Such faith was tied to “a living hope and an indescribable and glorious joy” which “Christ bestows on his disciples.”

The “hope and joy of Easter” are won precisely through suffering, Pope Francis explained. They are “ forged in the crucible of self-denial, self-emptying, utter identification with sinners, even to the point of disgust at the bitterness of that chalice.”

“These two holy Popes” received the gifts of hope and joy “from the risen Lord.”

“They in turn bestowed (these gifts) in abundance upon the People of God, meriting our eternal gratitude,” acknowledged the Holy Father.

John XXIII “showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit,” in convening the Second Vatican Council, said Pope Francis. “He let himself be led and he was for the Church a pastor, a servant-leader.”

John Paul II “was the Pope of the family,” reflected the pontiff. “I am particularly happy to point this out as we are in the process of journeying with families towards the Synod on the family,” he said, referencing the meeting of bishops which will take place in October to discuss matters related to family life.

“May these two new saints and shepherds of God’s people intercede for the Church, so thatduring this two-year journey toward the Synod she may be open to the Holy Spirit in pastoral service to the family.”

“May both of them teach us not to be scandalized by the wounds of Christ and to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes and always forgives, because it always loves.”

At the close of Mass, Pope Francis led the crowds in the traditional Marian prayer of the Easter season, the Regina Coeli.

He thanked the many organizers of the event and all the pilgrims present in Rome, as well as those following on various forms of media.

Fr. Robert Barron: Impressions from St. Peter's Square

Why Pope John XXIII is a Saint

Fr. James Martin, S.J. on Pope John XXIII

The Paths John XXIII and John Paul II Took Toward Sainthood

The following comes from Edward Pentin at Newsmax:

What personal qualities make Popes John XXIII and John Paul II saints?

The two 20th-century popes, who will be canonized in Rome on Sunday, lived in such close profound communion with Jesus that they developed auras of holiness.

Such are the testimonies not only of those who knew the two men well, but also of two church officials who have overseen their journeys toward canonization.

Speaking to reporters at the Vatican on Tuesday, the Rev. Giovangiuseppe Califano and Monsignor Slawomir Oder, "postulators" for the respective causes of John XXIII and John Paul II, explained how these two pontiffs manifested Christian qualities to such an extent that they will now be "elevated to the altars" as prime examples of saintliness.

People who knew Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli – later "Good Pope" John XXIII – "immediately recognized" the Pope’s "aura of holiness," Califano said, stressing that his reputation for sanctity derived from his "spiritual way of living."

From his earliest days in the seminary, Roncalli committed himself to becoming a saint, he said. According to his diaries, Roncalli set about achieving it through unity with Jesus, praying the rosary and always keeping an eye on his actions.

At 21, he even said: "God, I truly desire that I be a saint, and therefore I should be a saint."

Later, as pope, he once remarked: "They call me the Holy Father. I should be so: Holy."

But Califano said he also achieved such a high level of sanctity through simple humility, obedience to his superiors, and his way of being. "We can recall the words of St. Francis of Assisi: 'God is everything, and I am nothing, and this is enough for me.'"

"This is what consoled the heart of John XXIII," the postulator said, recalling the late pope’s dependence on the providence of God after growing up poor.

"He entrusted himself completely to the heart of God," the Italian priest said. "We know that, and we see it through his decisions: how he always abandoned himself to his heart."

John XXIII had "humility, generosity and joy" – qualities seen through his actions, from giving gifts to sick children and reaching out to those on margins of society, to opening the doors of the church and convening the Second Vatican Council, which "updated" the church to better engage with the modern world. He was both a "shepherd and a father," or even synonymous with the word "love," as his successor, Paul VI, once remarked.
Read the rest here.

A Prayer for Peace by Pope John XXIII

Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, "Peace to you," grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace. Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all peoples of the earth becomes as brothers and sisters. May longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all.