Pope John XXIII


Pope John XXIII was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963.
Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy. He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after Pope Pius XII's death. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council, the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.
John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate. His views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike." He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to the changes of the Second Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, and he helped the Christian Democracy party to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party. In international affairs, his Ostpolitik engaged in dialogue with the communist countries of Eastern Europe. He especially reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches.
John XXIII's overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, and its necessary involvement with affairs of state. He dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa, Japan, and the Philippines. He promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.
John XXIII did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died eight months later on 3 June 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council. He was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II himself on 27 April 2014. John XXIII today is affectionately known as "the Good Pope".

Early life

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on 25 November 1881 in Sotto il Monte, a small country village in the Bergamo province of the Lombardy region of Italy. He was the eldest son of Giovanni Battista Roncalli and his wife Marianna Giulia Mazzola, and fourth in a family of thirteen. His siblings were:
  • Maria Caterina
  • Teresa, who married Michele Ghisleni in 1899
  • Ancilla
  • Francesco Saverio, who married Maria Carrara in 1907
  • Maria Elisa
  • Assunta Casilda, who married Giovanni Battista Marchesi in 1907
  • Domenico Giuseppe
  • Alfredo
  • Giovanni Francesco, who married Caterina Formenti in 1919
  • Enrica
  • Giuseppe Luigi, who married Ida Biffi in 1922
  • Luigi
His family worked as sharecroppers, as did most of the people of Sotto il Monte – a striking contrast to that of his predecessor, Eugenio Pacelli, who came from a family established in senior roles in the Papal administration. Roncalli was nonetheless a descendant of an Italian noble family, albeit from a secondary and impoverished branch; " derived from no mean origins but from worthy and respected folk who can be traced right back to the beginning of the fifteenth century." The Roncallis maintained a vineyard and cornfields and kept cattle.
In 1889, Roncalli received both his First Communion and Confirmation at the age of 8.
On 1 March 1896, Luigi Isacchi, the spiritual director of his seminary, enrolled him into the Secular Franciscan Order. He professed his vows as a member of that order on 23 May 1897.
In 1904, Roncalli completed his doctorate in theology and was ordained a priest in the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto in Piazza del Popolo in Rome on 10 August. Shortly after that, while still in Rome, Roncalli was taken to Saint Peter's Basilica to meet Pope Pius X. After this, he returned to his town to celebrate Mass for feast of the Assumption.

Priesthood

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 on 22 August 1914, two days after the death of Pius X, Radini-Tedeschi's last words to Roncalli were "Angelo, pray for peace". The death of Radini-Tedeschi had a deep effect on Roncalli. During this period Roncalli was also a lecturer in the diocesan seminary in Bergamo.
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. After being honorably discharged from the army in early 1919, he was named spiritual director of the seminary. On 7 May 1921, Roncalli was appointed a Domestic Prelate of His Holiness, which gave him the title of Monsignor. On 6 November, he travelled to Rome where he met the Pope. After their meeting, Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Roncalli would recall Benedict XV as being the most sympathetic of the popes he had met.

Episcopate

In February 1925, the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri summoned him to the Vatican and informed him of Pope Pius XI's decision to appoint him the Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria. On 3 March, Pius XI also appointed him titular archbishop of Areopolis, Jordan. Roncalli was initially reluctant about a mission to Bulgaria, but he soon relented. His nomination as apostolic visitor was made official on 19 March. Roncalli was consecrated a bishop by Giovanni Tacci Porcelli in the church of San Carlo al Corso in Rome, on 25 March 1925.
On 30 November 1934, he was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece and titular archbishop of Mesembria, Bulgaria. He became known in Turkey's predominantly Muslim society as "the Turcophile Pope". Roncalli took up this post in 1935 and used his office to help the Jewish underground in saving thousands of refugees in Europe, leading some to consider him to be a Righteous Gentile. In October 1935, he led Bulgarian pilgrims to Rome and introduced them to Pope Pius XI on 14 October.
In February 1939, he received news from his sisters that his mother was dying. On 10 February 1939, Pope Pius XI died. Roncalli was unable to see his mother for the end as the death of a pontiff meant that he would have to stay at his post until the election of a new pontiff: she died on 20 February 1939, during the nine days of mourning for the late Pius XI. He was sent a letter by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, and Roncalli later recalled that it was probably the last letter Pacelli sent until his election as Pope Pius XII on 2 March 1939. Roncalli expressed happiness that Pacelli was elected and, on the radio, listened to the coronation of the new pontiff.
Roncalli remained in Bulgaria at the time that World War II commenced, optimistically writing in his journal in April 1939, "I don't believe we will have a war." When the war began, he was in Rome, meeting with Pope Pius XII on 5 September 1939. In 1940, Roncalli was asked by the Vatican to devote more of his time to Greece; therefore, he made several visits in January and May of that year. He maintained close relations with the Jews and also intervened to convince Bulgaria's King Boris III to cancel deportations of Greek Jews during the Nazi occupation of Greece.

Efforts during the Holocaust

As nuncio, Roncalli made efforts during the Holocaust in World War II to save refugees, mostly Jews, from the Nazis. Among his efforts were:
  • Delivery of "immigration certificates" to Palestine through the Nunciature diplomatic courier.
  • Rescue of Jews by means of certificates of "baptism of convenience" sent by Monsignor Roncalli to priests in Europe.
  • Children managed to leave Slovakia due to his interventions.
  • Jewish refugees whose names were included on a list submitted by Rabbi Markus of Istanbul to Nuncio Roncalli.
  • Jews held at Jasenovac concentration camp, near Stara Gradiška, were liberated as a result of his intervention.
  • Bulgarian Jews who left Bulgaria, a result of his request to King Boris III of Bulgaria.
  • Romanian Jews from Transnistria left Romania as a result of his intervention.
  • Italian Jews helped by the Vatican as a result of his interventions.
  • Orphaned children of Transnistria on board a refugee ship that weighed anchor from Constanța to Istanbul, and later arriving in Palestine as a result of his interventions.
  • Jews held at the Sereď concentration camp who were spared from being deported to German death camps as a result of his intervention.
  • Hungarian Jews who saved themselves through their conversions to Christianity through the baptismal certificates sent by Nuncio Roncalli to the Hungarian Nuncio, Monsignor Angelo Rota.
In 1965, the Catholic Herald newspaper quoted Pope John XXIII as saying:
On 7 September 2000, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation launched the International Campaign for the Acknowledgement of the humanitarian actions undertaken by Vatican Nuncio Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli for people, most of whom were Jewish, persecuted by the Nazi regime. The launching took place at the Permanent Observation Mission of the Vatican to the United Nations, in the presence of Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has carried out exhaustive historical research related to different events connected with interventions of Nuncio Roncalli in favour of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. As of September 2000 three reports have been published compiling different studies and materials of historical research about the humanitarian actions carried out by Roncalli when he was nuncio.
In 2011, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation submitted a massive file to Yad Vashem, with a strong petition and recommendation to bestow upon him the title of Righteous among the Nations.