Vatican City, Dec 23, 2021 / 09:53 am (CNA).
Pope Francis will beatify the “smiling pope” John Paul I on Sept. 4, 2022.
Vatican News, the website overseen by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, said on Dec. 23 that the pope who reigned for only 33 days would be beatified in St. Peter’s Basilica.
It added that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints shared the ceremony’s date with Cardinal Beniamino Stella, postulator of the cause of canonization, and Bishop Renato Marangoni of Belluno-Feltre, the Italian diocese where the cause opened on Nov. 23, 2003, and closed on Nov. 9, 2017, with the proclamation of John Paul I’s heroic virtues.
Pope Francis recognized a miracle obtained through the intercession of his papal predecessor in October.
John Paul I was elected pope on Aug. 26, 1978, following the death of Paul VI. A priority of his short pontificate was carrying forward the work of the Second Vatican Council.
He died unexpectedly on Sept. 28, 1978, at the age of 65, and was succeeded by Pope John Paul II.
Even before he was elected pope, Albino Luciani was known for his humility, his emphasis on spiritual poverty, and his dedication to teaching the faith in an understandable manner.
The miracle attributed to John Paul I’s intercession is the 2011 healing of a girl in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, Argentina, from a severe form of encephalopathy, a disease affecting the brain.
Last year, Pope Francis instituted a Vatican foundation to promote the thought and teachings of John Paul I.
In an April 2020 article in L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin wrote that “Pope John Paul I was and remains a reference point in the history of the universal Church, the importance of which — as St. John Paul II pointed out — is inversely proportional to the duration of his very short pontificate.”
In 2008, on the 30th anniversary of John Paul I’s death, Benedict XVI reflected on St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, in which the apostle writes: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.”
Benedict said that the biblical text brought to mind John Paul I, who chose the same episcopal motto as St. Charles Borromeo: Humilitas.
John Paul I’s simplicity, according to Benedict, “was a means of solid and fruitful instruction, which, thanks to the gift of an excellent memory and vast culture, was enriched by numerous citations of Church and secular authors.”
Writing in Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, on Dec. 23, vice postulator Stefania Falasca noted that the causes of six of the nine 20th-century popes have opened. Four of them have concluded in canonization: those of Pius X, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II.
The cause of Pope Pius XII was opened on Nov. 18, 1965, by Paul VI during the last session of the Second Vatican Council. Benedict XVI declared the wartime pope Venerable on Dec. 19, 2009.
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Yet another steroid fueled popularity contest promoting fraudulence…
Bergoglio is on a warpath to make a handful of recent popes saints. I wouldn’t doubt if he’s going to nominate himself as a saint before he passes…yet, Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s canonization is on a shelf collecting dust…
Let’s make this a lot simpler. It is obvious and undeniable that every pope before Vatican II was a reactionary sinner who is rightfully consigned to the outer darkness and thence forth eternally ignored while every after Vatican II pope is a glorious “Santo Subito” because of course The Council. Once a new pope is elected, he will automatically be called “Saint” in to avoid the tedious and pointless delay and expense in having to wait until he dies and some rigamarole has to be done in the Saint-making sausage factory to beautify and canonize.
Let’s start now and not waste any time: “St. Francis the Great.”
This is good news. John Paul 1, was indeed a saintly man.
What did he actually do that was saintly? Smile for the cameras? John Paul I accomplished precisely zero as pope except being made pope by the same lobbies that made Roncalli as John XXIII and Montini as Paul VI. If he is made a saint, we should all be made saints automatically and thus dispense with the Church, the sacraments, grace, and even Christ Himself.
I, for one, do believe that the Holy Spirit, who works in mysterious ways, does lead the Cardinals to vote for a person that is needed by the Church at the time.
And you know this how? Because he had a cute and innocently-looking smile? Because we should feel sorry for him because he was robbed of years as Pope? Please give us an explication of what you’re aware of regarding his holiness?
Was it the fact of his just being another ordained man saying shallow silly things about the wisdom of Humane Vitae that made him “saintly?”
“saying shallow silly things” says the person who does so regularly.
Be man enough to be specific.
Problem for Team Francis:
A – its chief theologian Cardinal Kasper, promoted by sycophants of the Pontiff Francis such as “Eminence” Cupich, writes and teaches that the faithful “probably don’t need to believe” in the miracle accounts attributed to Jesus as testified by the apostles and evangelists in the New Testament, for example those in this list including the calming of the sea, the Transfiguration, the raising of the widow’s son, the daughter of Jairus and Lazarus, and especially the bodily resurrection of Jesus, which “appearances” were not “objectively TANGIBLE events…it is a mistake to interpret what happened as…a miraculous event…[which] “knocked them over” …. This would lead to the grotesque conclusion that those who first preached faith…were dispensed from faith by having seen…. [the appearances] “were actual encounters with Christ present in the spirit.” (Kasper, Jesus the Christ, the denial of the bodily resurrection being on p. 139 of the 1976 edition).
B – While the contemporary Catholic Church absolves the faithful from believing miracle accounts attested in the Gospels by mere evangelists and apostles, yet the faithful can nevertheless be assured that the “miracles” certified by the Church of Pachamama are all to be believed.
Not a very convincing testimony, your Eminences and Excellencies.
One more comment; I thought to be declared a ‘saint’ in the Church, there would have to be ‘2’ miracles attributed to this person. On here, apparently there was only ‘one’ attributed to JPI. These awards to sainthood seem to be flying off the shelf since Frank took over the ‘holy Chair of Peter…’
Pope John Paul II was shot while he was going to view the Shroud of Turin. When John Paul I died, there had been a three-part series on the Shroud of Turin featured in the Kansas City Star. I remember well how this unfolded. Above the headline banner, in red print, was the announcement of the featured articles each of the three days. Having an interest in the Shroud, and having seen the first article, I was anxious to read the second one. I purchased the newspaper the second day, and the headline that morning announced the death of Pope John Paul I. There, above that headline were two images in red of the crucified Christ, with the notice of the second installment of the series on the Shroud presented in red lettering between them. Rather strange.
Just because you’re not a canonized Saint doesn’t mean you’re a lesser saint. Popes and religious have hordes who labor on promoting their sainthood. Lay people, especially obscure saintly people, don’t have such tireless and savvy advocates. That’s okay because in heaven a saint is a saint. Just strive to be a saint.
Yawn.
I heard rumors that Pope John Paul I was poisoned due to him wanting to investigate corruption in the Vatican Bank. IF true, he would be saintly and likely a martyr, although most of these averments come from unverified sources in the Vatican rumor mill, without any proof to substantiate them thus far.