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A shy, retiring man, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli became our beloved Pope Saint John XXIII. Perhaps the greatest irony was that his fellow Cardinals elected him as a stop-gap pope to give them time to get the politics ironed out for a more permanent candidate. Little did they know what the Holy Spirit had in store for the Church through this “temporary” Pope.
When Pope John XXIII was beatified in 2000, the date assigned for his feast was October 11, the day that Vatican II began in 1962. The feast has since been moved to June 3, the day he died in 1963. Why the change?
It was certainly no surprise when Pope Francis declared that Blessed John Paul II (1978-2005) would be the next papal saint. The Polish pope’s canonization seemed only a matter of time, just like that of Blessed Mother Teresa.
Pope John XXIII, as Pope Francis said, “was a country priest, the priest who loves all the faithful, who knows how to care for the faithful, and this he did as a bishop, and as a nuncio.”
This beloved saint, the patron of parish priests and confessors, has a lot to teach believers the world over.
St. John XXIII counseled us to live in love and hope rather than fear.
Pope Saint Paul VI helped prepare for the Second Vatican Council, and was the one to complete it after the death of his predecessor, Pope Saint John XXIII. In 1965, he instituted the Synod of Bishops, and spoke to the United Nations General Assembly during a historic visit to New York City.
I went through Italy last summer. Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs took our group to places associated with Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Pope John XXIII.
Pope Francis is the best thing that has happened to the Catholic Church since St. John XXIII. I know there are lots of dedicated priests, religious, and laypeople working on the front lines with refugees, the poor, the elderly, single mothers, and other at-risk groups of people. But where among today’s leaders are the Oscar Romeros, the Daniel Berrigans, and the Dorothy Days? I don’t think I’m having a crisis of faith; it feels more like a crisis of religion because of tepid leadership.
As Americans are heating up the backyard barbecue for celebratory Labor Day cookouts Sept. 4, news headlines daily shout about the cooling down of the U.S. job market.
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