Pope John Paul I

His Holiness Pope John Paul I (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. I, Italian: Giovanni Paolo I), born Albino Luciani, (October 17, 1912—September 28, 1978) reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from August 26, 1978 until his death. His 33-day papacy was one of the shortest reigns in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes.

Having died before he could make a legacy as a pope, he is best remembered for his friendliness and humility, making him known as "the smiling Pope", drawing comparisons with "Good Pope John", the widely popular Pope John XXIII.

He was the first pope to choose a double name and did so to honor his two immediate predecessors, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. He was also the first (and so far only) pope to use "the first" in his regnal name.

Biography

Personal background and papal election

Albino Luciani was born on October 17, 1912 in Forno de Canale (now called Canale d'Agordo) in the Belluno province, region of Veneto northern Italy. He was the son of Giovanni Luciani and his wife Bortola Tancon. He had a sister named Nina and a brother named Edoardo.

He was educated at minor and major seminaries of the diocese of Belluno and ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church on July 7, 1935. Luciani later received a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He served as his diocese's seminary vice rector from 1937 to 1947, also teaching students in the areas of dogmatic and moral theology, Canon Law and sacred art.

In 1948, he was named pro-vicar general, and in 1958, vicar general of that diocese, before being made bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958 by Pope John XXIII. As a bishop, he participated in all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). On December 15, 1969, he was appointed patriarch of Venice by Pope Paul VI and took possession of the archdiocese on February 3, 1970. Pope Paul raised him to the cardinalate in the consistory of March 5, 1973.

John Paul I described himself as quiet, unassuming, and modest, with a warm sense of humor. In his notable Angelus of August 27, delivered on the first day of his papacy, he impressed the world with his natural friendliness. What also struck Catholics was his humility, a prime example being his embarrassment when Pope Paul VI took off his stole and put it on Luciani while he was a cardinal. He recalls the occasion in his first Angelus as:

"Pope Paul VI made me blush to the roots of my hair in the presence of 20,000 people, because he removed his stole and placed it on my shoulders. Never have I blushed so much!"

The August 1978 Conclave

Luciani was elected on the third ballot of the 1978 Papal Conclave. He chose the regnal name of John Paul, the first double name in the history of the papacy, explaining in his famous Angelus that he took it as a thankful honor to his two predecessors: John XXIII, who had named him a bishop, and Paul VI, who had named him Patriarch of Venice and a cardinal.

Observers have suggested that his selection was linked to the rumored divisions between rival camps within the College of Cardinals:

• Conservatives and Curialists supporting Giuseppe Siri, who favored a more conservative interpretation or even correction of post-Vatican II's reforms.
• Those who favored a more liberal interpretation of Vatican II's reforms, and some Italian cardinals supporting Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, who was opposed because of his "autocratic" tendencies.
• The dwindling band of supporters of Sergio Cardinal Pignedoli, who was allegedly so confident that he was papabile that he went on a crash diet to fit the right size of white cassock when elected.

Outside the Italians, now themselves a lessening influence within the increasingly internationalist College of Cardinals, were figures like Karol Cardinal Wojtyła. Luciani later claimed to his private secretary, Father John Magee, that he had sat facing the next pope. (Some reports claim he called the man "the foreigner".) In 1980, having become Papal Master of Ceremonies, Magee out of curiosity checked the seating plans in the Sistine Chapel for the August 1978 conclave, which were kept in a file in his office. It showed that the man opposite Luciani was indeed Wojtyła. He immediately told Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II, of his predecessor's prediction. Magee discusses this in the interview he gave to RTÉ on the 8th April 2005, available in the external links, below.

Over the days following the conclave, cardinals effectively declared that with general great joy they had elected "God's candidate". Argentine Eduardo Cardinal Pironio stated that, "We were witnesses of a moral miracle." And later, Mother Teresa commented: "He has been the greatest gift of God, a sunray of God's love shining in the darkness of the world."

Long conclave predicted

Many, including the cardinals, expected a long conclave, deadlocked between the camps. Luciani was an easy compromise. He was a pastor more in the spirit of Vatican II than an austere intellectual, a man with few autocratic pretensions and so less unwelcome to some than Giovanni Cardinal Benelli. And for Italian cardinals, determined not to "lose" the papacy to a non-Italian for the first time in centuries and faced with other controversial Italian candidates, Luciani was an Italian with no baggage. He had no enemies created through a high profile career in the Curia, made no controversial or radical statements or sermons and was just a smiling gentleman, a pastor.

Even before the conclave began, journalists covering it for Vatican Radio noted increasing mention of his name, often from cardinals who barely knew him but wanted to find out more; not least, "What is the state of the man's health?" Had they known just how precarious his health was (his feet were so swollen he could not wear the shoes bought for him by his family for the conclave) they might have looked elsewhere for Paul VI's successor. But they did not. Hence, to his own horror and disbelief, he was elected to the papacy. The surprise of his election is captured in his official portrait, his hair is clumsily brushed back, because unlike papabili cardinals who expect their election, he had not had his hair cut for the conclave. When he was asked if he accepted his election, he stated "May God forgive you for what you have done". Moments later, hesitating, he said: "I accept".

Vincent Browne's claim

The belief that Luciani's election was a decision not made until during the conclave was challenged by senior Irish journalist Vincent Browne, who in 2005 revealed that he had been told by a senior Vatican source, whom he declined to name, that a number of cardinals had already decided informally amongst themselves to elect Luciani pope (though Luciani himself was unaware of it) during the sede vacante period between Pope Paul VI's death and the conclave. The source told him to expect a quick election. Browne recounted discussing this with sociologist and priest Father Andrew Greeley, who dismissed the claim, the idea of a short conclave and Luciani's chances of election. Their discussion was cut short by the crowd reacting to the traditional white smoke issuing from the Sistine Chapel's chimney, the conclusion of what indeed had turned out to be an abnormally short conclave. To Greeley's visible astonishment Luciani was announced as the new pope.

The smiling pope

After his election, John Paul quickly made several decisions that would "humanise" the office of pope, admitting publicly he had turned scarlet when Paul VI had named him the patriarch of Venice. He was the first modern pope to speak in the singular form, using I instead of we, though the official records of his speeches were often rewritten in more formal style by traditionalist aides, who reinstated the royal we in press releases and in L'Osservatore Romano. He was the first to refuse the sedia gestatoria until Vatican pressure convinced him of its need, in order to allow the faithful to see him. Vatican officials tactfully did not mention to him that his awkward flat-footed walk, which they felt was "unregal" and ungainly, also embarrassed them.^{[citation needed]}

John Paul was the first pope to admit that the prospect of the papacy had daunted him to the point that other cardinals had to encourage him to accept it. He strongly suggested to his aides and staff that he believed he was unfit to be pope. Though Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Constitution Romano Pontifici Eligendo explicitly required that John Paul be crowned, he controversially refused to have the millennium-old traditional Papal Coronation and wear the Papal Tiara.^[1] He instead chose to have a simplified Papal Inauguration Mass. John Paul I used as his motto (Humilitas). Through his actions, John Paul emphasized the servant role of the pope that is expressed in the Latin phrase Servus Servorum Dei (The Servant of the Servants of God).

New Pope, new rules

As a theologian, he was regarded as being on the conservative side. For example, he was a public defender of Pope Paul VI's 1968 Humanæ Vitæ [1], an encyclical on sexual mores which restated the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial birth control in the age of the first contraceptive pill, [2] [3]. However, he raised considerable worry within the Vatican^{[citation needed]} when he met with representatives of the United Nations to discuss the issue of overpopulation in the Third World, a controversial issue in light of the Church's anti-contraceptive stance. Some critics of Humanæ Vitæ expressed the hope that a new pontiff would somehow reverse this traditional teaching.^{[citation needed]}

John Paul I intended to prepare an encyclical in order to confirm the lines of the Second Vatican Council ("an extraordinary long-range historical event and of growth for the Church", he said) and to enforce the Church's discipline in the life of priests and the faithful. In discipline, he was a reformist, instead, and was the author of initiatives such as the devolution of one per cent of each church's entries for the poor churches in the Third World. The visit of Jorge Rafael Videla, president of the Argentine junta, to the Vatican caused considerable controversy, especially when the Pope reminded Videla about human rights' violations taking place in Argentina during the so-called Dirty War.

John Paul may have impressed people by his personal warmth, but within the Vatican he was seen as an intellectual lightweight not up to the responsibilities of the papacy. In the words of John Cornwell, "they treated him with condescension"; one senior cleric discussing Luciani said "they have elected Peter Sellers". Critics contrasted his sermons mentioning Pinocchio to the learned intellectual discourses of Pius XII or Paul VI. Visitors spoke of his isolation and loneliness, and the fact that he was the first pope in decades not to have had either a diplomatic (such as Pius XI and John XXIII) or Curial role in the Church (such as Pius XII and Paul VI).

Pope John Paul was accused of being unable to handle the endless supply of documentation that was sent to him by Jean-Marie Cardinal Villot, the Cardinal Secretary of State. Villot contrasted John Paul I's look of panic when faced with problems against John Paul II's calm. Some insiders, including the Secretary of State and the pope's private secretary, John Magee, questioned his ability to do the job. Magee gave a revealing account of the incident where the pope allowed a large loose-leaf top secret document to fall from his roof garden and blow over the Vatican rooftops. (The Vatican's fire service was called to retrieve the hundreds of pages.) He spoke of finding John Paul I crying; he had to send the pope to bed, where he later found him lying in a fetal position saying the Rosary.

Luciani himself had severe doubts as to his suitability for the papacy, predicting that his reign would be short and "the foreigner" would succeed him. He repeatedly asked people, concerning his election by the College of Cardinals, "Why did they pick me?"^{[citation needed]}

Death

John Paul's sudden death, only 33 days after his election, caused worldwide shock. The cause of death as officially reported by the Vatican was "possibly associated to a myocardial infarction"; this is a common heart attack. However, a degree of uncertainty accompanies this diagnosis because no autopsy was performed. This uncertainty has led to a number of conspiracy theories about the pope's death.

In addition, Vatican health-care had been notoriously poor for some of his predecessors. Pope Paul VI's poor health care is generally agreed to have hastened the approach of his death. There is no evidence to suggest that the standard of Vatican health care had improved by Pope John Paul I's 33-day reign. Nor, given his apparent lack of heart problems (as attested to by his own doctor, who flatly contradicted the rumours that came from the Vatican in the aftermath of the pope's death) was there any apparent immediate requirement for a review of medical services. In contrast, John Paul I's successor, Pope John Paul II, always had access to excellent medical services, a fact that saved his life after the assassination attempt made upon him in 1981.

The Pope's body was embalmed within one day of his death. Wild rumours spread. One rumour claimed that a visiting prelate had recently died from drinking "poisoned coffee" prepared for the pope. A visiting prelate actually had died some days earlier, but there was no evidence of poison. Another unsubstantiated rumour described the Pope's plans to dismiss senior Vatican officials over allegations of corruption. The suddenness of his embalming raised suspicions that it had been done to prevent an autopsy. The Vatican insisted that a papal autopsy was prohibited under Vatican law. However one source (the diary of Agostino Chigi) reports that an autopsy was carried out on the remains of Pope Pius VIII in 1830.

On November 11, 2006 the first part of his beatification process concluded at the Belluno cathedral.

Legacy of Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I was not in office long enough to make any major practical changes within the Vatican or the Roman Catholic Church (except for his abandonment of the Papal Coronation). His impact was twofold : his image as a warm, gentle, kind man captivated the world. The media in particular fell under his spell. He was a skilled orator. Whereas Pope Paul VI spoke as if he was delivering a doctoral thesis, John Paul I produced warmth, laughter, a 'feel good factor', and plenty of media-friendly sound bites. Secondly, the manner of his death raised many questions about the conduct of senior Vatican figures. Even among those who dismiss conspiracy theories, there are some that admit that the Vatican mishandled the circumstances of his death. For others, the suspicion remains that the 'smiling pope', who charmed the world, died in a manner that has yet to be explained adequately.

He was regarded as a skilled communicator and writer, and has left behind some writings. His book Illustrissimi, written while he was a Cardinal, is a series of letters to a wide collection of historical and fictional persons. Among those still available are his letters to Jesus Christ, the Biblical King David, Figaro the Barber, Marie Theresa of Austria and Pinocchio. Others 'written to' included Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Christopher Marlowe.

A number of campaigns have been started to canonize Pope John Paul I. Miracles have been attributed to him. On June 10, 2003 the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave its permission for the opening of the beatification process of Pope John Paul I, Servant of God. The "diocesan phase" of this process began in Belluno on November 23, 2003; a miracle has already been alleged, of an Italian man cured of cancer.

John Paul II on his predecessor

Karol Józef Wojtyła was elected to succeed John Paul I as Supreme Pontiff on Monday, 16 October 1978. The next day he celebrated Mass together with the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. After the Mass, he delivered his first Urbi et Orbi (a traditional blessing) message, broadcast worldwide via radio. In it he pledged fidelity to the Second Vatican Council and paid tribute to his predecessor:

"What can we say of John Paul I? It seems to us that only yesterday he emerged from this assembly of ours to put on the papal robes—not a light weight. But what warmth of charity, nay, what 'an abundant outpouring of love'—which came forth from him in the few days of his ministry and which in his last Sunday address before the Angelus he desired should come upon the world. This is also confirmed by his wise instructions to the faithful who were present at his public audiences on faith, hope and love." (source: L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 26 October 1978, p.3)

See also

• Pope John Paul I conspiracy theories

Other

• In 2006, the Italian Public Broadcasting Service, RAI, produced a television miniseries about the life of John Paul I, called Papa Luciani: Il sorriso di Dio (literally, "Pope Luciani: The Smile of God"). It stars Italian comedian Neri Marcorè in the titular role.
• The Fall's 'Hey! Luciani' is about Pope John Paul I.
• Here you can watch the film

Footnotes

1. ^ Romano Pontifici Eligendo (1975) Paul VI's Apostolic Constitution on the election on the pontiff, Section 92.

References

• Spirit Daily
• Crisis Magazine
• L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 26 October 1978, p.
• Pope John Paul on Find-A-Grave

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