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Friday, September 28, 2018

I WALKED INTO OUR SEMINARY CHAPEL FOR MORNING PRAYER AND THOUGHT THE OTHER SEMINARIANS WERE AWFUL ABOUT JOKING ABOUT POPE JOHN PAUL I'S DEATH. HE HAD JUST BEEN ELECTED THE PREVIOUS MONTH! IT WAS NO JOKE!

And when I read that it was 40 years ago today, I thought that too was a joke of dark humor, but sadly that too is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pope John Paul I: The 'smiling pope'

September 28, 2018 marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul I.
It was on August 26, 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, was elected Pope and took the name of John Paul I. Known as the ‘smiling Pope’,  he was in office as a Pope for only 33 days due to his sudden death on September 28. So became one of the shortest-lived popes in history.
He was declared a Servant of God by his successor, John Paul II, on 23 November 2003, the first step on the road to sainthood. Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue on 8 November 2017 and named him Venerable.


3 comments:

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...

A note was slipped under our door in college - THE POPE HAS DIED! We, too, thought it was a joke till we turned on the TV and saw it on the news.

Tony V said...

Nothing against JP-1, but this beatification/canonisation (deification?) of recent popes is scandalous. The institutional church has enough credibility problems as it is. This wholesale canonisation of popes is downright embarassing. Paul VI?? Give me a break.

Dante didn't hesitate to place certain popes in hell. That was before papolatry infected the church.

Anonymous 2 said...

For some reason I often think about Pope John Paul I and wonder how history would be different if his pontificate had lasted a more normal length of time. In significant ways he seemed to be a Pope Francis before his time. The Wikipedia article about him is quite interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I#Six_point_plan