The Pope people forget to remember

Posted on 28 September 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Say a prayer for His Holiness Pope John Paul I, who unexpectedly died on this day in 1978.

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17 Comments

  2. Ubi Caritas says:
    28 September 2008 at 2:41 PM

    I love the stories I hear about PJPI. Some say that when he became a diocesan Bishop he refused the customary gifts that dioceses are meant to give to their new Bishops, saying “I came here with only 5 lira, and I’ll leave with only 5 lira.” Another story recounts that at the moment he was elected Pope he said to the Cardinals “May God forgive you for what you have done!”

    A wonderful example of simplicity, humility and love from which many of us could learn.

  3. Alan says:
    28 September 2008 at 2:45 PM

    They called him the smiling pope. I saw a just short video clip of him once and I knew why. He was a happy chappy!
    RIP

  5. TA1275 says:
    28 September 2008 at 5:01 PM

    That is a wonderful picture.

  6. Bruce T. says:
    28 September 2008 at 5:31 PM

    Hasn’t he been declared “servant of God?”
    Does that mean he is certainly on his way to heaven?

  7. Bukowski says:
    28 September 2008 at 6:21 PM

    While I think it prudent not to anticipate the judgment of Holy Mother Church, yet after reading the fourth volume of _The Whole Truth about Fatima: The Pope of the Secret_, I could not help being morally certain of the heroic charity of Pope John Paul I and of having in him a loving, generous, noble father who intercedes for us in Heaven.

    No less than his life of profoundly Catholic virtue as priest, bishop, and cardinal, that Sr. Lucy recognized him as the future Pope, that he willingly let himself be a holocaust for his beloved children, and that as a true son of Our Lady he was ready to do promptly what she demanded, including the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart deserve our great admiration.

  8. Antiquarian says:
    28 September 2008 at 9:48 PM

    How well I remember the utter shock of hearing the news report of his death in 78. Thank you, Fr Z, for the reminder to keep him in our prayers.

  9. Guy Kogut says:
    28 September 2008 at 11:40 PM

    He did not die unexpectedly. He was murdered. [We are NOT going there.]

  10. California Girl says:
    29 September 2008 at 1:33 AM

    I was in college in 1978. I remember riding with a friend; she pulled up to a convenience store to buy something while I waited for her in the car. I looked out the window and saw a newspaper machine with the headine \”Pope Found Dead\”. I was confused–my first thought was \”Why are they still selling a paper from last month?\” It was very disorienting. Then I realized that it meant our NEW Pope, and I was so upset.

  11. Jane says:
    29 September 2008 at 2:51 AM

    We only knew him for a month, but his smile was unforgetable.

    Like California Girl, I too walked past a newspaper stand (in a Sydney suburb) and saw in big bold print the words: Pope Dead. I did not understand that it was about Pope John Paul I and wondered why the paper was running a story about Pope Paul VI.

  12. Fr. Walter Macken says:
    29 September 2008 at 4:01 AM

    John Paul 1st was a man of great holiness. When he was picked as Pope he did say that Woitila should have been elected instead. But he smilingly gave his life for the Church, knowing he had not long to live. Fr. Walter, 29 September 2008

  13. EJ says:
    29 September 2008 at 11:50 AM

    I’ve always been intrigued by this Pope. Can anyone recommend a good solid biography of Pope John Paul I? I also read Spanish, Italian and French if someone has a work in mind that is not published in English. Thank you!

  14. Byzshawn says:
    29 September 2008 at 1:31 PM

    Pope John Paul I was a man of great holiness-I recommend reading “Illustrissimi” (hope I got that spelled right.) which is a wonderful collection of his letters (trans. into English).

  15. beng says:
    29 September 2008 at 11:43 PM

    Pope John Paul I (A.D. 1978)

    It is also difficult to accept some truths, because the truths of faith are of two kinds; some pleasant, others unpalatable to our spirit. For example, it is pleasant to hear that God has so much. tenderness for us, even more tenderness than a mother has for her children, as Isaiah says. How pleasant and congenial it is! There was a great French bishop, Dupanloup, who used to say to the rectors of seminaries: “with the future priests, be fathers, be mothers”. It is agreeable. Other truths, on the contrary, are hard to accept. God must punish, if I resist. He runs after me, he begs me to repent and I say: “No!” I almost force him to punish me. This is not agreeable. But it is a truth of faith. And there is a last difficulty, the Church. St Paul asked: “Who are you, Lord?” —”I am that Jesus whom you are persecuting”. A light, a flash, crossed his mind. I do not persecute Jesus, I don’t even know him: I persecute the Christians. It is clear that Jesus and the Christians, Jesus and the Church are the same thing: indissoluble, inseparable.

    Read St Paul: “Corpus Christi quod est Ecclesia”. Christ and the Church are only one thing. Christ is the Head, we, the Church, are his limbs. It is not possible to have faith and to say, “I believe in Jesus, I accept Jesus but I do not accept the Church.” We must accept the Church, as she is. And what is this Church like? Pope John called her “Mater et Magistra”. Teacher also. St Paul said: “Let everyone accept us as Christ’s aids and stewards and dispensers of his mysteries.”

  17. Ad Orientem says:
    30 September 2008 at 12:20 AM

    May his memory be eternal.

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