Pope John Paul I

Biography

Personal background and papal election

Luciani was born in the Forno de Canale (now called Canale d'Agordo) in the Belluno province, region of Veneto northern Italy.

Related Topics:
Forno de Canale - Canale d'Agordo - Belluno - Veneto - Italy

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He was educated in the 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.

Related Topics:
Seminaries - Belluno - Priest - Roman Catholic Church - July 7 - 1935 - Doctorate - Theology - Pontifical Gregorian University - Rome - Vice rector - 1937 - 1947 - Canon law

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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.

Related Topics:
1948 - Pro-vicar general - 1958 - Vicar general - Bishop - Vittorio Veneto - Pope John XXIII - Second Vatican Council - 1962 - 1965 - December 15 - 1969 - Patriarch - Venice - Pope Paul VI - Archdiocese - February 3 - 1970 - Cardinalate - Consistory - March 5 - 1973

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John Paul 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.

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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 honour to his two predecessors: John XXIII, whom he had subsequently succeeded in Venice, had named him a bishop, and Paul VI had named him Patriarch and a cardinal.

Related Topics:
Papal Conclave - Papacy - Angelus - John XXIII - Paul VI

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

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• Conservatives and Curialists supporting Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, who favored a more conservative interpretation of 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.

Related Topics:
College of Cardinals - Karol Cardinal Wojtyła - John Magee - 1980 - Sistine Chapel - 1978

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Over the days following the conclave, cardinals effectively declared that with general great joy they had elected "God's candidate". 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."

Related Topics:
God - Mother Teresa

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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 little 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.

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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 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.

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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 interregnum 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 M. 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.

Related Topics:
Irish - Vincent Browne - 2005 - Interregnum - Sociologist - Andrew M. Greeley - Sistine Chapel

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The smiling pope

New Pope, new rules

As a theologian, he was regarded as being on the conservative side. He was a public defender of Pope Paul VI's 1968 Humanæ Vitæ http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html, an encyclical on sexual mores which restated the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial birth control in the age of the contraceptive pill, http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/popepaul.htm http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Homiletic/11-96/1/1.html. In private, however, some speculate that he expressed reservations to Paul VI. He raised considerable worry within the Vatican when he met with representatives of the United Nations to discuss the issue of overpopulation in the Third World, an issue which was particularly controversial because of the Catholic Church's stance against artificial birth control. Some critics of Pope Paul's Humanæ Vitæ expressed the hope that the new pontiff would somehow reverse this traditional teaching.

Related Topics:
Theologian - Humanæ Vitæ - Birth control - Contraceptive pill - United Nations - Overpopulation - Third World

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John Paul, however, died without issuing any such reversal. His successor's continued support of Humanæ Vitæ http://www.rosary-center.org/ll47n1.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3180174.stm has led some to concoct conspiracy theories that John Paul I was murdered over this teaching. http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/popes/john_paul_i/

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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.

Related Topics:
Encyclical - Second Vatican Council - Devolution - Jorge Rafael Videla - President - Argentine - Junta

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The tension among those in the Vatican aware of his original document to Pope Paul on contraception exploded when the pope expressed a certain consideration for contraception. He did so after his meeting with the United Nations delegation, resulting in notable editing of his speeches on the pages of L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper.

Related Topics:
Contraception - Editing - L'Osservatore Romano

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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 career (such as Pius XII and Paul VI).

Related Topics:
John Cornwell - Peter Sellers - Pinocchio - Pius XII - Paul VI - Pius XI - Curial - Pius XII - Paul VI

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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 foetal position saying the Rosary.

Related Topics:
Jean-Marie Cardinal Villot - Cardinal Secretary of State - John Magee - Foetal - Rosary

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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?"

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Death

John Paul's quick death, only 33 days after his election, caused worldwide shock. The official cause of death specified by the Vatican was a myocardial infarction, a common heart attack. However, a certain degree of uncertainty accompanies this diagnosis because no autopsy was performed.

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The Vatican's handling of several events surrounding the death provoked further concern. It claimed a papal secretary discovered that the Pope had died, whereas in fact a nun who had come to bring him some coffee found him in the Papal Household. It claimed he had been reading Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ, yet his copy of that book was still in Venice. It lied about the time of death, and conflicting stories were told as to his health. It was hinted that his ill health was due to heavy smoking; in fact he never smoked. The impact of such misinformation was shown in a headline of the Irish Independent newspaper, "THIRTY-THREE BRAVE DAYS" conveying the image of a weak and ill man physically unable to withstand the pressures of the papacy, and who was in effect killed by it.

Related Topics:
Thomas à Kempis - Imitation of Christ - Smoking - Irish Independent

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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 a post-mortem examination. However the Vatican insisted that a papal post-mortem was prohibited under Vatican law. However a source (Augostino Chigi in his diary) reports a post-mortem was carried out on the remains of Pope Pius VIII in 1830.

Related Topics:
Embalmed - Poison - Post-mortem examination - Pope Pius VIII - 1830

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