Aurelio Porfiri
During the month of October we especially are accustomed to remember the great Pope saint John Paul II. There are several reasons for this: He was elected as Pope on October 16, 1978 and on October 22 we celebrate his liturgical feast.
Now let us take this occasion to remember his predecessor, Albino Luciani, who became Pope and took the name of John Paul I, but his pontificate lasted briefly for a little more than a month.
An article of Eugenio Bonanata on Vatican News informs us that a new series of books will be released on this Pontiff. This will be done through a collaboration of the Fondazione Vaticana Giovanni Paolo I with the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
The first two books will be his biography and a book that addresses the issue of his sudden death in 1978. Many conspiracy theories have circulated and books written on the mysterious death of the Pontiff decades after his death. Stefania Falasca, who is one of the authors of the volume and vice president of the Vatican Foundation, has said that this is the “first official biography of John Paul coming from all sources available.” This was done because of the canonization process involving this Pope, which was concluded in 2017.
John Paul I was remembered as “The smiling Pope” because of his cheerful attitude. Someone may speculate what would have been the Church if he was allowed a longer Pontificate. That of course is just speculation.
On September 28, 1978, addressing Filipino Bishops during an ad limina visit, this Pope had this to say, among other things: “Among the rights of the faithful, one of the greatest is the right to receive God’s word in all its entirety and purity, with all its exigencies and power. A great challenge of our day is the full evangelization of all those who have been baptized. In this, the Bishops of the Church have a prime responsibility. Our message must be a clear proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ. With Peter we must say to Christ, in the presence of our people: ‘You have the words of eternal life’ (Jn 6:69). For us, evangelization involves an explicit teaching about the name of Jesus, his identity, his teaching, his Kingdom and his promises. And his chief promise is eternal life. Jesus truly has words that lead us to eternal life.”
With these words, the Pope reminds us that the most important thing for the Church is to not get involved with worldly affairs (that of course have their place, but that is secondary) but with the evangelization of people announcing the word of Jesus and his message of salvation. Outside of this everything, including causes that may seem very noble, are of secondary importance. And in our day, as the Pope also affirmed clearly, one of the most important issues would be to evangelize those who are already baptized, because we are living in a time where there is a major crisis of faith. (Photo: Vatican News)
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