Born Albino Luciani (Italian pronunciation: al'bino lu't?ani,17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978 , reigned 26 August 1978 to his sudden death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes, the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, ending a succession of Italian-born popes that started with Clement VII in 1523. He was declared a Servant of God by his successor, John Paul II, on 23 November 2003, the first step on the road to sainthood.
Before the papal conclave that elected him, he expressed his desire not to be elected, telling those close to him that he would decline the papacy if elected, but upon the cardinals electing him, he felt an obligation to say "yes". He was the first pontiff to have a double name, choosing "John Paul" in honour of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. He explained that he was indebted to John XXIII for naming him a bishop and to Paul VI for creating him a cardinal. Furthermore, he was the first pope to add the regnal number "I", designating himself "the First".
His sudden death has led to a number of conspiracy theories. His two immediate successors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, later recalled the warm qualities of the late pontiff in several addresses.
In Italy, he is remembered with the appellatives of "Il Papa del Sorriso" (The Smiling Pope) and "Il Sorriso di Dio" (The smile of God). Time magazine and other publications referred to him as The September Pope. He is also known in Italy as "Papa Luciani".
In his town of birth, Canale d'Agordo, there is a museum that has been made and named in his honour that is dedicated to his life and his brief papacy.
Luciani entered the minor seminary of Feltre in 1923, where his teachers found him to be "too lively", and later went on to the major seminary of Belluno. During his stay at Belluno, he attempted to join the Jesuits, but was denied by the seminary's rector, Bishop Giosuè Cattarossi.
In mid-1938, Karol and his father left Wadowice and moved to Krakow, where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University. While studying such topics as philology and various languages at the University, he worked as a volunteer librarian and was required to participate in compulsory military training in the Academic Legion, but he refused to fire a weapon. He performed with various theatrical groups and worked as a playwright. During this time, his talent for language blossomed and he learned as many as 12 foreign languages, nine of which he later used extensively as Pope.
Ordained a priest on 7 July 1935, Luciani then served as a curate in his native Forno de Canale before becoming a professor and the vice-rector of the Belluno seminary in 1937. Among the different subjects, he taught dogmatic and moral theology, canon law and sacred art.
In 1941, Luciani started to work on a Doctorate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. This required at least one year's attendance in Rome. However, the Belluno seminary's superiors wanted him to continue teaching during his doctoral studies. The situation was resolved by a special dispensation by Pope Pius XII on 27 March 1941. His thesis (The origin of the human soul according to Antonio Rosmini) largely attacked Rosmini's theology and earned him his doctorate magna cum laude in 1947.
In 1947, he was named chancellor to Bishop Girolamo Bortignon, OFM Cap, of Belluno. In 1954, he was named the vicar general for the Belluno diocese. Luciani was nominated for the position of Bishop several times but he was passed down each time due to his poor health, stature and his resigned appearance. In 1949, he published a book titled Catechesis in crumbs. This book, his first, was about teaching the truths of the faith in a simple way, directly and comprehensible to all people.
On 15 December 1958, Luciani was appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 27 December from Pope John XXIII himself, with Bishops Bortignon and Gioacchino Muccin serving as the co-consecrators. As a bishop, he participated in all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). In 1958, he had taken his Humilitas (Humility) as his episcopal motto. He took possession of the diocese on 11 January 1959. In 1966, he visited Burundi in East Africa.
On 15 December 1969, he was appointed as the new Patriarch of Venice by Pope Paul VI and he took possession of his new archdiocese on 3 February 1970. On 1 February 1970, he received honorary citizenship of the town of Vittorio Veneto, where he had previously served as its bishop.
Pope Paul VI created Luciani the Cardinal-Priest of San Marco in the consistory on 5 March 1973. During his time as Patriarch of Venice, Luciani clashed with priests who supported the liberalisation of divorce in Italy, eventually suspending some of them. At the same time, he was opposed to the 1974 referendum restricting divorce after it had been liberalised, feeling that such a move would fail and simply point out a divided Church with declining influence.
In 1975, Luciani travelled to Germany in May. Later that year (6-21 November), he visited Brazil where he met with members of the clergy, including Cardinal Aloísio Lorscheider. Upon his return to Italy, he suffered an embolus in his right eye. A few months after that, Luciani also made a visit to Fatima. While there, he met with Sister Lucia dos Santos, the surviving visionary of three children who claimed to see apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary back in 1917, revered under the title of Our Lady of Fatima. When Cardinal Luciani met Sister Lucia, she referred to him as "Holy Father". This greeting shocked the humble cardinal. In January 1976, he published Illustrissimi ("To the Illustrious Ones"), a collection of letters penned by him in previous years, whimsically addressed to historical and literary figures such as Dickens, Chesterton, Maria Theresa of Austria, St Teresa of Avila, Goethe, Figaro, Pinocchio, the Pickwick Club, King David and Jesus. These letters written in very clear and simple, yet often witty language as a way of relating elements of the Gospel to modern life.
In 1976, Luciani sold a gold cross that Pope John XXIII had given to him to raise money for spastic children. He also urged fellow priests in Venice to sell their valuables to contribute to this cause and as a way for them to live simply and humbly.
Pope Paul VI died on August 6, 1978, ending a reign of fifteen years. Luciani was summoned to Rome for the conclave to elect the new pope. Luciani was not considered papabile at the time though mentioned upon occasion in several papers, but a few cardinals approached him with their opinion that he would make a fine pontiff. The electors did not want a Curial figure, as Paul VI had been, but a warm and pastoral figure like Pope John XXIII.
Luciani was elected on the fourth ballot of the August 1978 papal conclave. Luciani had previously said to his secretary, Father Diego Lorenzi and to Father Prospero Grech (later a cardinal himself), that he would decline the papacy if elected, and that he intended to vote for Aloísio Cardinal Lorscheider, whom he met in Brazil. Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Philippines told him: "You will be the new pope."
However, when he was asked by Jean-Marie Cardinal Villot if he accepted his election, Luciani replied, "May God forgive you for what you have done" but accepted election. After his election, when Cardinal Sin paid him homage, the new pope said: "You were a prophet, but my reign will be a short one". On the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, protodeacon Pericle Cardinal Felici announced that the cardinals had elected His Eminence, Albino Cardinal Luciani, Patriarch of Venice as Pope John Paul I. The regnal name John Paul was the first time in papal history that a pope had chosen a double name. In a subsequent Angelus message the new pope explained that the double name was taken to gratefully honour his two immediate predecessors: John XXIII, who had named him a bishop, and Paul VI, who had named him Cardinal Patriarch of Venice. He was also the first pope to designate himself "the First" with the name. (Pope Francis, elected in 2013, also took a previously-unused papal name but explicitly refused to be called "the First".)
In the aftermath of the election, the pope confided to his brother Edoardo that his first thought was to call himself "Pius XIII" in honour of Pope Pius XI, but he gave up on the idea, worried that the traditionalist members of the Church might exploit this choice of regnal name.
Observers have suggested that his selection was a compromise to satisfy rumoured divisions among seemingly rival camps within the College of Cardinals:
Conservatives and Curialists supporting the highly regarded Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, who favoured a more conservative interpretation or even reversal of controversial ideas being promoted as "in the spirit of Vatican II" but which had actually never been discussed at the recent ecumenical council. There remains a conspiracy theory (the so-called 'Siri Conspiracy') concerning allegations Siri was actually elected in the 1958 conclave, but was pressured to withdraw acceptance of his election.
Those who favoured a more liberal interpretation of Vatican II's reforms along with some Italian cardinals who supported Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, who had created some opposition due to alleged "autocratic" tendencies.
The cardinals within the increasingly international College of Cardinals, beyond the Italians who were experiencing diminished influence, such as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla
During the days following the conclave, the cardinals were generally elated at the reaction to Pope John Paul I, some of them happily saying that they had elected "God's candidate". Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio stated, "We were witnesses of a moral miracle." Mother Teresa, commenting about the new pope, "He has been the greatest gift of God, a sun beam of God's love shining in the darkness of the world." British primate Basil Cardinal Hume declared: "Once it had happened, it seemed totally and entirely right ... We felt as if our hands were being guided as we wrote his name on the paper".
A dramatic event, soon after the election, occurred when the leader of the delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad, collapsed and died after a ceremony on 5 September 1978. The new pope immediately came over and prayed for him.
After he became pope he had set six plans down which would dictate his pontificate:
To renew the church through the policies implemented by Vatican II.
To revise canon law.
To remind the church of its duty to preach the Gospel.
To promote church unity without watering down doctrine.
To promote dialogue.
To encourage world peace and social justice.
After his election, John Paul I quickly made several decisions that would "humanise" the office of pope, admitting publicly he had turned scarlet when Paul VI placed his stole on Luciani's shoulders while the pontiff visited Venice on 16 September 1972. He was the first modern pope to speak in the singular form, using 'I' instead of the royal we, though the official records of his speeches were often rewritten in more formal style by aides, who reinstated the royal we in press releases and in the L'Osservatore Romano. He initially refused to use the sedia gestatoria until others convinced him of its need in order to allow the faithful to see him. He was the last pope to use the sedia gestatoria; subsequently, his successors refused to use it.
He was the first pope to choose a "papal inauguration" to commence his papacy rather than the traditional Papal Coronation Mass. Therefore, he would be given the pallium instead of the traditional tiara.
One of his remarks, reported in the press, was that God "is our Father; even more He is our Mother," referring to Isaiah 49:14–15, which compares God to a mother who will never forget her child Zion. The comment appeared in his 10 September Angelus address, which urged prayer for the upcoming Camp David Accords.
The moral theology of John Paul I had been openly debated because of his opinions expressed on a number of issues, particularly birth control. It is debated whether John Paul I was liberal, conservative, or a moderate in matters of church doctrine, thus it is difficult to assess his views.
It is certain that John Paul I would not have reversed Paul VI's teaching, namely on contraception, since it was a question of sexual ethics and Church doctrine, rather than one of personal opinion. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that John Paul I would not have insisted upon the negative judgment in Humanae vitae as aggressively and publicly as John Paul II did. Luciani had mixed feelings in regards to the traditional stance on contraception. In 1968, as Bishop of Vittorio Veneto, he submitted a report to his predecessor as the Patriarch of Venice, Giovanni Urbani, that argued that the contraceptive pill should be permitted. It was agreed on by fellow Veneto bishops and was later submitted to Pope Paul VI. When Humanae vitae was released, Luciani defended that document. But he seemed to contradict that defence in a letter he wrote to his diocese four days after the release of the encyclical. In May 1978, Cardinal Luciani was invited to speak at a Milanese conference to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the encyclical. He refused both to speak at the event and to attend it.
Some take a different view, describing that while serving as Patriarch of Venice, "Luciani was intransigent with his upholding of the teaching of the Church and severe with those, who through intellectual pride and disobedience paid no attention to the Church's prohibition of contraception," though while not condoning the sin, he was patient with those who sincerely tried and failed to live up to the Church's teaching."
In his letter to Carlo Goldini from the book Illustrissimi, Luciani took a critical perspective of abortion and argued that it violated God's law and that it went against the deepest aspirations of women, profoundly disturbing them
In a 1974 interview while he was the Patriarch of Venice, Luciani upheld the traditional line: "A sexuality that is worthy of man must be a part of love for a person of a different sex with the added commitments of fidelity and indissolubility.
Luciani had attended all sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) while he was the Bishop of Vittorio Veneto. In terms of religious freedom, Luciani saw the council as a chance to break with tradition or continuity. He had hoped that the council would highlight "Christian optimism" in terms of Christ's teachings against the culture of relativism. He denounced a fundamental ignorance of the "basic elements of the faith" - it was this point that he wished to focus on as opposed to secularism throughout the world.
In terms of global interpretation of the council, Luciani wrote: "The physiognomy and structure of the Catholic Church have been determined once and for all by the Lord and cannot be touched. If anything, superstructures can. Things that have not been determined by Christ, but were introduced by popes or councils or the faithful, can be changed, or eliminated today or tomorrow. Yesterday they might have introduced a certain number of dioceses, a certain way to lead missions, to educate priests, they might have chosen to follow certain cultural trends. Well, this can be changed and one can say "the Church that comes out of the Council is still the same as it was yesterday, but renewed". No one can ever say "We have a new Church, different from what it was".
In regards to religious freedom, Luciani wrote about the council's declaration, "Dignitatis humanae". In his writings, he said that there is only one true religion that must be followed and no other. He said that those that are not satisfied with the Catholic faith are free to profess their own religion for various reasons. He continues to say that religious freedom must be freely exercised by the individual. "The choice of religious belief must be free. The freer and more earnest the choice, the more those that embrace the Faith will feel honoured. These are rights, natural rights. Rights always come hand in hand with duties. The non Catholics have the right to profess their religion and I have the duty to respect their right as a private citizen, as a priest, as a bishop and as a State".
John Paul I was regarded as a skilled communicator and writer. His book Illustrissimi, written while he was a cardinal, is a series of letters to a wide collection of historical and fictional persons. Among those still available are his letters to Jesus, King David, Figaro the Barber, Empress Maria Theresa and Pinocchio. Others 'written to' included Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Christopher Marlowe.
John Paul I impressed people with his personal warmth. There are reports that within the Vatican he was seen as an intellectual lightweight not up to the responsibilities of the papacy, although David Yallop (In God's Name) says that this is the result of a whispering campaign by people in the Vatican who were opposed to Luciani's policies. In the words of John Cornwell, "they treated him with condescension"; one senior cleric discussing Luciani said "they have elected Peter Sellers." Critics contrasted his sermons mentioning Pinocchio to the learned intellectual discourses of Pius XII or Paul VI. Visitors spoke of his isolation and loneliness and the fact that he was the first pope in decades not to have previously held either a diplomatic role (like Pius XI and John XXIII) or Curial role (like Pius XII and Paul VI) in the Church.
His personal impact, however, was twofold: his image as a warm, gentle and kind man captivated the whole world. This image was immediately formed when he was presented to the crowd in St. Peter's Square following his election. The warmth of his presence made him a much-loved figure before he even spoke a word. The media in particular fell under his spell. He was a very skilled orator.
According to his aides, he was not the naive idealist his critics made him out to be. Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio, the substitute Papal Secretary of State, said that John Paul I quickly accepted his new role and performed it with confidence.
John Paul I had admitted that the prospect of the papacy had daunted him to the point that other cardinals had to encourage him to accept it. He refused to have the millennium-old traditional Papal Coronation and wear the Papal Tiara. He instead chose to have a simplified Papal Inauguration Mass. John Paul I used as his motto Humilitas. In his notable Angelus of 27 August 1978 (delivered on the first full day of his papacy), he impressed the world with his natural friendliness
John Paul I was found dead sitting up in his bed shortly before dawn on 29 September 1978, a mere 33 days into his papacy. The Vatican reported that the 65-year-old pope most likely died the previous night of a heart attack.
A conservative Catholic organization said that the Vatican altered some of the details of the discovery of the death to avoid possible unseemliness in that he was discovered by Sister Vincenza Taffarel, who was a nun. Inconsistent statements were made relating to who found John Paul I's body, the time when he was found, and what papers were in his hand. These various issues led to a number of conspiracy theories concerning his death. The Vatican has not investigated the claims and does not profess belief in any possible deceit.
John Paul I's funeral was held in Saint Peter's Square on 4 October 1978, celebrated by Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri. In his eulogy of the late pope, he described him as a flashing comet who briefly lit up the church. He then was laid to rest in the Vatican grottoes.
Pope John Paul I was the first pope to abandon coronation, and he was also the first pope to choose a double name (John Paul) for his papal name. His successor, Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla, chose the same name. He was the first pope to have a Papal Inauguration and the last pope to use the Sedia Gestatoria.
The process of canonisation for John Paul I formally began in 1990 with the petition by 226 Brazilian bishops, including four cardinals. The petition was addressed directly to Pope John Paul II.
On 26 August 2002, Bishop Vincenzo Savio announced the start of the preliminary phase to collect documents and testimonies necessary to start the process of canonisation. On 8 June 2003 the Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave its assent to the work. On 23 November on the Feast of Christ the King, the process formally opened in the Cathedral Basilica of Belluno with Cardinal José Saraiva Martins in charge.
The diocesan inquiry for the cause subsequently concluded on 11 November 2006 in Belluno. In June 2009, the Vatican began the "Roman" phase of the beatification process for John Paul I, drawing upon the testimony of Giuseppe Denora di Altamura who claimed to have been cured of cancer by the intercession of the late pontiff. An official investigation into the alleged miracle commenced in June 2009.
For Luciani to be beatified, the investigators have to certify at least one miracle. For canonisation there must be a second miracle, though the reigning pope may waive these requirements altogether, as is often done in the case of beatified popes.
The diocesan inquiry on the case of the Giuseppe Denora healing was validated on 25 March 2010. The documents in regards to the miracle were supposed to be delivered to the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato on 17 October 2012 (the hundred year anniversary of the late pope's birth), to examine the pros and cons of the cause. This was delayed due to the cause's supporters wanting another check over all the documents. In a mass at Belluno on 20 July 2014, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone announced that the cause of beatification was set to advance. The cardinal highlighted that the Positio would be delivered in September 2014.
To determine whether the late pontiff should or not be declared Venerable, theologians and the members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints must determine if the late pope lived a life of heroic virtue. It would then fall to Pope Francis to recognize this in a decree, thus, putting him another step closer towards the end of the canonization process. After this, further investigation into the alleged miracle can go ahead. The current postulator is Bishop Enrico dal Covolo.
