CrucisPope St. John XXIII
Pope St. John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli on 25 November 1881 at Sotto il Monte near Bergamo, Italy, into a large family of peasant farmers. Ordained in 1904, he served as a papal diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey, and France, where during the Second World War he helped save many Jewish refugees. Created a cardinal and Patriarch of Venice, he was elected pope in 1958 at the age of seventy-six, widely expected to be a transitional figure.
Instead, his brief pontificate proved momentous. In 1962 he convened the Second Vatican Council to renew the Church's life and its engagement with the modern world, and in 1963, amid the Cuban Missile Crisis, he issued the encyclical Pacem in Terris, a landmark appeal for peace addressed to all people of good will. Beloved for his warmth and humor as "Good Pope John," he died on 3 June 1963 before the Council concluded. He was canonized in 2014.
Selected quotes
“Smile upon the world, for a cheerful heart is itself a kind of preaching, and joy is the surest sign of a soul at home with God.”
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is carrying a cross you cannot see; gentleness is the language the wounded understand.”
“Let unity be sought in what is essential, freedom in what is doubtful, and in all things charity that never fails.”