Fifty Years Ago , This Week Fifty years ago, tomorrow, we celebrate Angelo Cardinal Roncalli (aka J23) as we commemorate his entrance into heaven in 1963. If you were around then, you will recall that the world was in a death watch during his last few hours on earth. His was like a death in the (human) family.
Today, we refer to him as Blessed John XXIII (santo not quite subito). For most remembering him, why bother?
He was born in 1883 in northern Italy His farming family stuck close to him throughout the years. He was sponsored by somebody and was trained in Vatican Diplomacy and he represented the Vatican in Bulgaria and France.
His short papacy was considered a watershed opportunity used by the Holy Spirit to generate, among other things, the convocation of Vatican Council II, the principal event in Catholic history in the twentieth century. His emphasis was upon aggiornamiento (updating) and resourcement (getting back to our biblical, apostolic roots. He spoke of convivienza, the joy of being Catholic.
Some of the significant contributions of Vatican II was the re-introduction of the idea of the universal call to holiness (aka integrity). There was to be no more two-tiered Catholicism, viz., super-Catholics (priest and nuns) who were called to live the Evangelical Councils (if they wanted!) as opposed to the laity, who were the second tier. Now, whatever vocation God had in store for a person (for most, marriage, dedicated singlehood, religious or clerical), that was the highroad for that individual. Some think that this was an example of the principle of unintended consequences because it prompted many Catholics to look at the vision of church differently. Years later, opponents of Blessed John XXIII said that what happened after Vatican II was not what God intended. Such were charges made against St Paul in Galatians 3. Such were also charges made against Thomas Jefferson after 1776, when women, slaves, native Americans questioned, why stop at all men are created equal?
In addition, he worked on 2 major encyclicals which re-focussed the role of Catholicism in the modern world. Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher) was hailed as a step forward in the direction begun by Pope Leo XIII of the Church’s comments on the industrialization of the modern world. Some Catholic talk show discussion leaders issued a response entitled, “Mater, Si, Magistra, No”. His jest was not well received and some (not all) woke to the fact that being a member of the Church had something to do with serious, political, economic and social implications of the Gospel that unbridled capitalism might violate. Blessed John’s wisdom grew in our world despite the barb.
In the autumn of 1962, the world came to the closest ever (that we know of) of the real possibility of nuclear war with the onset of this crisis.
For years, NATO had nuclear weapons in Turkey that obviously were a threat to the USSR. Moscow had a chance to return the compliment by placing nuclear weapons in Cuba posing a threat to guess whom? In October, 1962, the world faced the threat of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) with the real possibility of two nuclear missiles launched in opposite directions that would undo what God had been doing on earth for eons.
Books have been written that have been dismissed about the serious role of Blessed John’s role as meditator between the USA and USSR in the Cuban Missile Crisis. (We know now that Soviet Party Chair, Nikita Khrushchev’s son-in-law might have been the go-between between the Soviets and us.) (Another prominent Catholic “solon” recently published a book, “Who Killed JFK?”. Blessed John’s role as mediator was not mentioned in his book. Go figure!)
(Aside, the NATO missiles were dismantled in Turkey, although many people wondered what our (good, defensive) missiles had to do with their (evil, aggressive) missiles. Many still don’t get it.)
There is a dismissed suspicion that the greatest of Blessed John’s encyclicals, Pacem in Terris in 1963, might have been meant to a working document between the two superpowers. With its publication that it was “addressed to men (sic!) of good will”, is explained by this theory.
Pacem inTerris signaled a recognition that things were changing beneficially in the modern world with the rise of women and the end of colonialism by European powers. Read it on line sometime on line. It is brief and intelligible. One of the great lines was “In this age priding itself in sophistication, it is irrational to think of modern warfare as an apt means of settling disputes.”
In addition, he was known for his humanity. In his early days as Bishop of Rome, he visited a prison near the Vatican and explained to the inmates, “You couldn’t come to see me, so I came to see you”. The recent visit by Pope Francis and his Holy Thursday washing of the feet of the 12 inmates (including an Islamic teenage girl!!) replicates what Blessed John did over 50 years ago.
On a more humorist note, when his rural family came to visit him in the Vatican, a relative asked him, “How many people work here?” Without blinking an eye, he quickly responded “About half of them!” The staff was not amused.
It appears that many want us to forget the personality and phenomenon of Blessed John XXIII. He barely is mentioned much anymore. Perhaps, the election of Pope Francis as a avatar of Blessed John XXIII that, indeed, the church and world were gifted by God with Blessed John XXIII. Many forget him which is why we should not. The election of Pope Francis was a powerful reminder. “Dum spiramus, speramus.” “ While we breathe, we hope”. We still do!! 060213AD jfq
