By Stefania Falasca, Postulator of the cause of canonization of Blessed Pope John Paul I and Vice-President of the John Paul I Vatican Foundation
Today, Aug 26, we celebrate the liturgical memorial of Blessed John Paul I – Albino Luciani (1912-1978).
Beatified by Pope Francis on Sep 4 2022, in St. Peter’s Square, the Church celebrates the memorial of Blessed John Paul I on the date he was elected Pope.
After a swift 26-hour-long conclave, with almost unanimous support, on Aug 26 1978, Albino Luciani was voted as Successor of Peter.
The exact moment of his election as Bishop of Rome, Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio remembered in this way: “I was right in front of him, and I looked at him. And all of us Cardinals were waiting for his ‘yes.’ His yes to Christ, a yes to the Church as a servant, a yes to humanity as a good shepherd. I saw him with a profound serenity, which came from an interiority that cannot be improvised.”
On the occasion of his memorial, the postulator today spreads the newly-composed prayer to implore the Blessed’s intercession and ask for his canonization.
The Prayer for the Canonization and Intercession of Blessed John Paul I
Blessed John Paul I,
you who with your word and example
taught us to live the grace of Baptism
and the gift of faith, hope, and charity;
you who were a model of evangelical simplicity
and showed us the wisdom of humility;
you who as Pope became close to all
and, as a messenger of the Good News,
manifested your love for the poor
and witnessed to the “unfailing” mercy of God
who “is father, even more, is mother”;
you who pursued unity, dialogue, and peace
following Christ, the Prince of Peace;
pray for the Church you so loved and served,
pray for us, your children,
and obtain for us from the Lord to follow you
on the path of virtues and Beatitudes.
Grant now, O Lord,
through the intercession of Blessed John Paul I,
the grace that we implore from you in faith…
And, if it is Your will, allow him to be canonized
for the glory of Your name and the good of Your Church.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
IMPRIMATUR
OFFICIUM POSTULATORIS
The relevance of the message
In the “unique and singular task of the Roman Chair ‘which presides over universal charity,’” the pontificate of Albino Luciani began on Aug 26, 1978, with gestures that testified to his decisive will to rediscover the essentially pastoral dimension of the papal office.
Among these, it is notable that his first decision after being elected was not to immediately open the conclave but to invite the elderly Cardinals who had been left out to listen, with the rest of the College, to his first message to the world. In that Urbi et Orbi message, delivered on Aug 27, 1978, the course of his pontificate was clearly outlined in the six programmatic “We Wishes”, in which he repeatedly declared his intention to continue the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, preserving its legacy and preventing deviations.
These are the six “we wishes” emphasized by Blessed John Paul I: “We wish to continue to put into effect the heritage of the Second Vatican Council. Its wise norms should be followed out and perfected […] We wish to preserve the integrity of the great discipline of the Church…both in the exercise of the evangelical virtues and in service to the poor, the humble, the defenceless […] We wish to remind the entire Church that its first duty is that of evangelization […] We wish to continue the ecumenical thrust…We intend to dedicate our prayerful attention to everything that would favour union. We will do so without diluting doctrine but, at the same time, without hesitance…[…] We wish to pursue with patience but firmness that serene and constructive dialogue that Paul VI had at the base of his plan and programme for pastoral action […] We wish finally to express our support for all the laudable, worthy initiatives that can safeguard and increase peace in our troubled world…”
Advancing the Church
These were precisely the priorities in the works of a Pope who clearly intended to pursue and advance the Church along the main roads indicated by the Council. “Let me explain. I was at the Council, and I signed the Fathers’ message to the world in ’62… I also signed Gaudium et Spes,” he would state during the General Audience on hope on Sep 20.
“When Paul VI published Populorum Progressio, I was moved, enthusiastic, I spoke, I wrote. Even today, I am truly convinced that the hierarchy, the Magisterium, will never do enough to insist, to recommend serene and constructive dialogue, on the great issues of freedom, the promotion of development, social progress, justice, and peace; and the laity will never commit themselves enough to solving these issues.”
Mission as peacemakers
And the following statement — omitted from official editions — though immediately echoed by chancelleries, still leads directly to those commitments listed that weave and define his brief pontificate, particularly on the front of the quest for peace: “In these moments, we are given an example by Camp David.”
“The day before yesterday, the American Congress burst into applause that we also heard when Carter quoted Jesus’ words: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ I truly hope that that applause and those words enter the hearts of all Christians, especially us Catholics, and make us truly agents and makers of peace.”
Moreover, precisely the promotion of reconciliation and brotherhood among peoples, inviting cooperation for “the building, the very vulnerable increase of peace in a troubled world” and curbing nationalism as well as “the violence that only destroys and sows only rubble” within nations, is set— together with ecumenical and interreligious commitment, documented by a dense agenda of audiences with representatives of non-Catholic Churches — as a priority in John Paul I’s programmatic discourse.
Interreligious and ecumenical commitment
The ecumenical and interreligious commitment for unity, brotherhood, and peace pervaded his entire month of pontificate.
It clearly shows his desire to foster unity with the sister Churches of the East, as he had already mentioned in his homily on Sep 3, when he named, after the Cardinals, the Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches in his greetings to all the people, a mention later removed from the official text.
On 2 September, he met in successive audiences in the private library with delegates from numerous non-Catholic denominations, who were then present at the celebration on Sep 3.
At that time, the Pope expressed the need to continue the dialogue between Christian communities initiated by the Council and to seek in prayer the unity desired by Christ.
A gaze at diplomacy
Even the morning of Sep 5 was dedicated to audiences with the delegations of non-Catholic Churches and communities gathered in Rome, and during these audiences, Metropolitan Nikodim of the Russian Orthodox Church (1929-1978), Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, Patriarchal Exarch for Western Europe, and President of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Office for Relations between the Orthodox Churches and Other Churches, suddenly died in his arms.
These perspectives also return in the address to the diplomatic corps on Aug 31, in which he defines the nature and peculiarity of the Holy See’s diplomatic action, which springs from a gaze of faith and is directed — following “the conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes as in many messages of the late Paul VI” — along the path of great diplomacy that has borne many fruits for the Church, nourished by charity.
Humanity and fraternity
In continuity with Pope Saints John XXIII and Paul VI, Blessed John Paul I illustrates the contribution that the Church can make to building a humanity founded on brotherhood: both internationally, by collaborating in the search for the best solutions for peace, justice, development, disarmament, and humanitarian aid, and pastorally, by collaborating in the formation of the consciences of the faithful and all people of good will.
Thus, on Sep 4, receiving over one hundred representatives of international missions, he reiterated the same themes, emphasizing that “our heart is open to all peoples, to all cultures, and to all races” and stating, “We certainly do not have miraculous solutions for the great world problems, but we can, however, offer something very precious: a spirit that helps to resolve these problems and place them in the essential dimension…”
These clear and fundamental considerations pronounced 46 years ago by a Pope for 34 days on the Chair of Peter are enough to reflect on the pressing relevance of his message, which is akin to that of the current Bishop of Rome. And how important it was to establish a Vatican Foundation dedicated to John Paul I so that his theological, cultural, and spiritual legacy can be fully studied.
The above is a working English translation from Italian. – Vatican News
