The Good Pope John

Dear Danny,

Today in the feast day of Blessed John XXIII. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0136.html

John was a great man and I hope you learn more about him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII

I have started reading the recently "surfaced" biography of Good Pope John and I will share interesting bits with you. (Gramma and Grampa owned a copy of Pope John's autobiography, "Journal of a Soul." http://www.amazon.com/Journal-Soul-Autobiography-Pope-XXIII/dp/0385497547)

In the meantime, the information below will get you started.

Concerning John's sense of humor...

Once, when asked how many people worked in the Vatican, John replied, "About half."

Until I read the article below, I did not know (or had forgotten) that John worked closely with Muslims friendships that were part of his inspiration for total church transformation. 

Currently, many people in the Catholic church are trying to reverse Pope John's accomplishments - just as many Americans are trying to reverse the accomplishments of Social Security and Medicare. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=154197646&m=154197633

Leigh Sturman's Dad taught me that, very often, humans must be "dragged kicking and screaming" into the light of progress.

It is easy for homo sapiens to "get set in his ways" and then just squat where he is - especially if "the world" has treated "him" reasonably well.

It is one of life's many ironies that wealth can make us careless of the poor instead of deepening our resolve to enact The Common Good.

A great Italian proverb says that "A full belly does not believe in hunger." 

Remember to "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finley_Peter_Dunne

Love

Daddy man

PS John XXIII's encyclical, "Pacem in Terris" ("Peace on Earth") is, I think, the greatest document ever to emerge from the Vatican. In it, Pope John quotes St. Augustine: "Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but mighty bands of robbers." John also discusses many things contributing to peace, including the responsibilities of nations to The Common Good of their people. He even called for a world-wide political authority, which made me aware of humankind's need for a global federation with "some teeth." (Here in the United States, there is not a single politician -- Democrat of Republican -- who has the cojones to call for any kind of global governance. In fact, most Americans think the idea of global governance is odious. Here in "The Bible Belt," an unusually large number think any kind of global governance is "God-damned communism." http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_xxiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_11041963_pacem_en.html  Some excerpts from Pacem in Terris: "Men's common interests make it imperative that at long last a world-wide community of nations be established." "The fact that he (i.e., a particular human being) is a citizen of a particular State does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor of citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men." "Today the universal common good presents us with problems which are world-wide in their dimensions; problems, therefore, which cannot be solved except by a public authority with power, organization and means co-extensive with these problems, and with a world-wide sphere of activity. Consequently the moral order itself demands the establishment of some such general form of public authority. But this general authority equipped with world-wide power and adequate means for achieving the universal common good cannot be imposed by force. It must be set up with the consent of all nations. If its work is to be effective, it must operate with fairness, absolute impartiality, and with dedication to the common good of all peoples. The forcible imposition by the more powerful nations of a universal authority of this kind would inevitably arouse fears of its being used as an instrument to serve the interests of the few or to take the side of a single nation, and thus the influence and effectiveness of its activity would be undermined."

    

PPS I wonder if Maria's upcoming trip to the Alps will take her near Pope John's birthplace in Sotto il Monte, a farming town outside the city of Bergamo.

Sunday, June 03, 2012 Blessed John XXIII (1881-1963) Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities.The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order. After his ordination in 1904, Angelo returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary and as publisher of the diocesan paper. His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921 he was made national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; he found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City. In 1925 he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey and finally in France (1944-53). During World War II, he became well acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders. With the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people. Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year, he was elected pope, taking the name John, his father’s name and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran. He took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon became proverbial, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962 he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed... errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.” On his deathbed he said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.” He died on June 3, 1963. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 2000. COMMENT: Throughout his life, Angelo Roncalli cooperated with God’s grace, believing that the job at hand was worthy of his best efforts. His sense of God’s providence made him the ideal person to promote a new dialogue with Protestant and Orthodox Christians, as well as with Jews and Muslims. In the sometimes noisy crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, many people became silent on seeing the simple tomb of Pope John XXIII, grateful for the gift of his life and holiness. After the beatification, his tomb was moved into the basilica itself. QUOTE: In 1903, young Angelo wrote in his spiritual journal: “From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way” (Journal of a Soul).