Pope Francis will personally beatify his predecessor, John Paul I, and the ceremony will be held at the Vatican.
Pope Francis has canonized nearly all the last popes of the 20th century, including John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II.
With this upcoming celebration, John Paul I will be made a blessed. It's an important step that will allow for him to be venerated as if it he were a saint in the dioceses where he lived, which includes the Vatican.
The conclave that elected Pope John Paul I was the shortest conclave in the 20th century. There were four rounds of voting, and John Paul I was elected with a huge margin. Some of the cardinals present said it was almost by acclamation.
It's what the head of the John Paul I Vatican Foundation, Stefania Falasca, shares. They chose him first of all for his humility, which he put into practice with gestures like getting rid of the majestic plural and with his simple and concrete homilies, into which he wove dialectal phrases.
STEFANIA FALASCA
John Paul I Vatican Foundation
“Dialect is a familiar language, and the liturgy proposed by the Second Vatican Council, which gave local languages a central role, required an absolute change. In this way, the message of Christian truth could reach everyone. And he, with his humility, embodied this.”
Stefania Falasca explains that the then cardinal was considered the perfect candidate to promote the Second Vatican Council: an ambitious project of profound conversion in need of a friendly face to see it through.
STEFANIA FALASCA
John Paul I Vatican Foundation
“It was as if he had opened the window to a fresh gust of wind. But we have to underline that his spontaneity and his humility were evangelical and theological choices that derived from what the Council had indicated.”
Already as bishop, John Paul I had demonstrated that he was practical, profound and very decisive. He chose to return to the original values of Christianity and looked for a new sense of mission.
STEFANIA FALASCA
John Paul I Vatican Foundation
“He wanted to live out poverty. He made humility his episcopal motto. For him, it was only natural to keep in mind the world he came from: a rural world, of a poor man who had experienced poverty firsthand. Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who knew him, recounted what he used to say to seminarians' parents: Help your sons be good priests; don't let them squander their money.”
Pope John Paul I's sudden death was a heavy blow. In only 33 days, his friendliness managed to conquer the affection of the entire Church.
BSB/JRB
TR: CT
