THE SEPTEMBER POPE

                                                                                 

August 26, 1978 - Conclave

Each of the one hundred and eleven red-robed Cardinals strode up to the altar in the Sistine Chapel and, holding only one piece of folded paper in his hand, said aloud:

I call to witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge 
that my vote is given to the one whom before God 
I consider should be elected.

Most of the Cardinal electors believed that “at least one more” Italian pope would be good – but did not plan to elect Cardinal Siri (“too intransigent”), nor Cardinal Benelli (“too curial”), nor Cardinal Pignedoli (“too aligned with the late Paul VI”).
 

Although a few Cardinals were prepared to vote for a non-Italian, even for an Eastern European, there was one Italian Cardinal – not well known outside of his own diocese - who seemed to fit the “job description” being whispered about in Rome: the need for “a happy holy man who smiles.”

Surprisingly, Albino Cardinal Luciani, the 65 year old Patriarch of Venice – a city that had already given the Church two saintly 20^th century Popes (Pius X and John XXIII) – had never lived in Rome and had not traveled extensively; he was a pastor, known as an expert in catechesis.

When he was leaving Venice for the Conclave (where the electors would be “locked in with a key” = cum+clave) a local newspaperman had asked Luciani about his chances; he replied with a grin, “Journalists should learn to write less and pray more.”

He himself was a writer, a teacher, a pastor.

And all indications are that he did not want to be Pope.

The Cardinal-electors, however, were suffering from the stifling August heat in the sealed-off Conclave area (Cardinal Carberry of St. Louis famously brought his “Hershey bars”) and they  wanted to choose a Pope quickly – looking, as one influential Cardinal explained, for “God’s candidate” and finding him in Luciani.

Thus, on the Conclave’s first day, on just the third ballot, the choice was made. The Cardinal Dean formally asked by what name Cardinal Luciani would choose to be known. “May God forgive you for what you have done to me,” he said to the Cardinals gathered around him.  Then, “I will be called ‘John Paul’.”

No other Pope in history had chosen a double-name.  Later, he explained: “I do not have the wisdom of heart of Pope John. I do not have the preparation and culture of Pope Paul. But now I stand in their place. I will try to serve the Church, and hope you will help me with your prayers.”

Sunday, September 3 – No “Coronation”

While 200,000 people gathered in the Piazza San Pietro, Pope John Paul knelt in silent prayer inside the Basilica at the tomb of St. Peter.  When he appeared outside, he was not carried on the high sedia gestatoria; he preferred “to walk as a man, among men” – the first Pope born in the 20^th century.

(Only a few days later, the Pope agreed, somewhat reluctantly, to return to the use the sedia; the crowds complained that they could not see the diminutive Pontiff, who was only 5 feet and 5 inches tall.)
 

The new Pope insisted that he not be “crowned.” Paul VI had sold his own papal triple tiara, the proceeds given to the poor. Instead, John Paul was “solemnly installed” as Pope, signified by the pallium made of lamb’s wool being placed over his shoulders. All metropolitan archbishops wear the pallium as a sign of their jurisdiction; the Pope’s symbolizes his Universal Pastorate.

The crowds – delighted by the new Pope’s infectious smile – cried out “Viva il Papa!”

The days of a brief papacy

When he was a Cardinal, Luciani had said, “Some bishops are like eagles who soar with magisterial documents on a high level. Others are like nightingales who sing the praises of the Lord wondrously. But others are poor wrens who only chirp on the last limb of the ecclesial tree trying to come out with some little thought on vast issues. I belong to the last category.”

His motto as a Bishop was just one word: Humilitas (humility).

            On the divide between “conservative” and “liberal” Catholics, Luciana’s insight was: “Vatican I has many followers, and so has an (imaginary) Vatican III, but Vatican II has too few.”

Catholic news services compiled highlights from John Paul’s weekly catechetical talks:

      On papal primacy: “To my left and my right are seated cardinals and bishops, my brothers in the episcopacy. I am only their older brother.”

On redemption: “A woman confessed to me many years ago, discouraged because she had led a morally stormy life. “May I ask how old you are?” I questioned. “Thirty-five.” “Well, you can live another 40 or 50 years and do a pile of good. Contrite as you are, don’t think of the past, but project yourself toward the future and renew your life with God’s help.”

On Christian pilgrimage: “When I was a boy, I loved to read Jules Verne’s ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ and “Around the World in 80 Days’, etc. But our voyages of love toward God are much more interesting.”

On free will: “Once a man went to a car dealer to buy a new car. The dealer told him. ‘Look, this is a great car. Treat it well with premium gas and oil.’ But the buyer said, ‘No, I can’t stand the smell of gas and oil. I’ll lubricate the engine with marmalade.’ ‘Do as you please,’ said the dealer, ‘but don’t complain to me if you end up in a ditch.’  The Lord does something similar with us – He gave us these bodies enlivened with a soul and free will. He said, ‘This mechanism is worth something, treat it well.’”

On doctrine:  “The truths are what they are. We must walk along that road, understanding them always more deeply, and presenting them in forms adapted to new times.”

On non-believers: “As a bishop I was very near to those who do not believe in God. I got the idea that these people fight not against God but against the mistaken idea they have of God.”

          Several times, the Pope – his white Papal zucchetto (skull cap) always slightly askew – invited children to come up to his chair so that he could speak to them directly. The enormous crowds loved it; the atmosphere was joyful, and his words easily understood and genuinely catechetical.

Some in the Curia, however, thought it was all too shallow, while admitting John Paul’s obvious popularity.

            But for the new Pope, the weeks of September were not easy.  He seemed at times overwhelmed by the weighty tasks and the need for important decisions brought to him daily by the Vatican Curia.  He confided to the Cardinal Secretary of State that he was finding the papal duties to be “a heavy burden.” He suffered from chest pains and from swelling in his legs. Several times he remarked to his priest-secretaries that “I will not be here long...”

“After me, then the ‘straniero’ (the foreigner) will come.”

Friday, September 29

                After just thirty-four days, the Cardinals were stunned; the Church was stunned; the whole world was stunned by the sudden death of Pope John Paul I.

                He was found dead in his bedroom early on Friday morning. It appeared that acute cardiac arrest had taken his life as he sat in bed reading the night before.  At 5:00 AM, even though his reading lamp was on, he did not answer when a housekeeping Sister knocked, nor did he come to his door and take the hot morning coffee she had left on a small table for him.  The priest secretaries were hurriedly summoned. They entered the room, saw the Pontiff dead, and immediately called for the Pope’s personal physicians.

                At 7:30 AM, Vatican Radio announced to the world the death of Pope John Paul I.

                No Pope had died so quickly, so unexpectedly since Leo XI, who reigned for only 26 days in 1605.

                (Conspiracy theorists started their imaginings almost immediately: the Pope had been “murdered by Freemasons” or “poisoned by international financiers.” What was he reading when he died? Was he about to dismiss a long list of Vatican curialists?  Would there be a formal medical inquiry?  An autopsy?  Tabloid newspapers and magazines speculated; within months, authors produced book-length treatments about the circumstances of the Pope’s death – which seemed to take him like “a thief in the night.”)

                While the Church began to prepare for another Papal Funeral (and the Cardinals for another Conclave), the American Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum seemed to speak for much of the world: Pope John Paul I was “remarkably like a sudden but brilliant comet that illuminated the skies over the human family through his spontaneous warmth, compassion and friendship toward all people.”

                “And then he was gone.”

Wednesday, October 4

                A steady rain fell during the outdoor Funeral Mass.  Thousands of opened, black umbrellas – like a dark shroud over the proceedings - gave the piazza an added semblance of mourning.

                It was a virtual replay of Pope Paul’s funeral: the coffin resting on the carpet with the Book of the Gospels atop and the lighted Easter candle nearby.  Behind the Cardinals many international dignitaries filled the closest chairs (from the U.S., Mrs. Lillian Carter, the President’s Baptist mother, along with the Catholic Senator Thomas Eagleton from Missouri and New York City Mayor Edward Koch, a Jew).

The chant, the ancient prayers, the twelve Vatican gentlemen carrying the coffin, the interment in the grottoes beneath the Basilica – all echoed Paul’s funeral, a mere seven weeks prior.    

Friday, October 13

            The Cardinals set the date of October 14 for the beginning of the second Conclave of 1978. It was, according to Church law, the earliest possible date. They did not seem to need two weeks, as they had done in August, to “get to know one another.”
   

            But there was a certain “heaviness”, a “despondency” about their preparatory meetings.

One of the younger Cardinals, from Munich in Germany, later explained, “Personally, I am convinced that John Paul I was a saint, because of his great goodness, simplicity, humanity, and great courage: he had the courage to say things with great clarity, even if he had to go against current opinions.”   The same Cardinal did indeed admit that the Sacred College was “somewhat depressed” -  because it appeared that “God had said ‘No’ to our choice of a Pope.”
          
          “But”, the 51 year old Josef Ratzinger added, “his unexpected death also opened the doors to an unexpected choice.”

          That choice would be the election of the “straniero”, the “foreigner” – the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. 

Coming next: The Holy Spirit’s “October Surprise”