Pope John XXIII
Hierarch · Patriarch · Confessor · 1881–1963 · Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, France
Life events
- Born — 1881
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on 25 November 1881 in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, the fourth of thirteen children of Giovanni Battista Roncalli and Marianna Giulia Mazzola, a sharecropping family.
- Ordained — 1904
Roncalli completed his doctorate in theology and was ordained a priest on 10 August 1904 in the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto in Piazza del Popolo, Rome, shortly afterward meeting Pope Pius X at Saint Peter's Basilica.
- Consecrated — 1925
On 25 March 1925, Roncalli was consecrated a bishop by Giovanni Tacci Porcelli in the church of San Carlo al Corso in Rome, having been appointed by Pope Pius XI as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria and titular archbishop of Areopolis.
- Other — 1944
On 22 December 1944, Pope Pius XII appointed Roncalli as Apostolic Nuncio to recently liberated France, a post requiring him to negotiate the retirement of bishops who had collaborated with the German occupying power.
- Other — 1953
On 12 January 1953, Roncalli was appointed Patriarch of Venice and raised to Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca by Pope Pius XII; he took possession of his new diocese on 15 March 1953, following a ceremony at the Élysée Palace where French President Vincent Auriol bestowed the red biretta.
- Other — 1958
Following the death of Pope Pius XII on 9 October 1958, Roncalli was elected pope on 28 October after eleven ballots in the conclave, taking the name John XXIII — the first use of that name in over 500 years — and was crowned on 4 November 1958.
- Council — 1962
On 25 January 1959, John XXIII announced his intention to convene an ecumenical council at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls; the first session of the Second Vatican Council opened on 11 October 1962, with John XXIII delivering the Gaudet Mater Ecclesia address as its opening speech.
- Died — 1963
John XXIII died of peritonitis caused by a perforated stomach at 19:49 on 3 June 1963 in Vatican City, aged 81, after a diagnosis of stomach cancer in September 1962; he was buried on 6 June in the Vatican Grottoes.
Relationships
- Related to John the Evangelist (plausible)
- Related to Saint Peter (plausible)
- Related to Pope Pius X (plausible)
- Related to Pope John Paul II (plausible)
- Related to Elizabeth Ann Seton (plausible)
- Related to Louise de Marillac (plausible)
- Related to Marguerite d'Youville (plausible)
- Related to Martin de Porres (plausible)
Documented claims
- Roncalli was born into a family of sharecroppers in Sotto il Monte, Bergamo — a striking contrast to his predecessor Pius XII, who came from a family established in senior roles in the Papal administration. (certain)
- As Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece (1935–1944), Roncalli used diplomatic channels to deliver immigration certificates to Palestine, issue baptismal certificates for Jewish refugees, and intervene with King Boris III of Bulgaria to cancel deportations of Greek Jews. (likely)
- In 1960, John XXIII eliminated the description of Jews as perfidius (Latin: 'faithless') from the Good Friday prayer for their conversion, interrupting the first Good Friday liturgy of his pontificate when he heard the word used. (certain)
- John XXIII was the first pope named Time magazine's 'Man of the Year,' an honor arranged in part through Norman Cousins, who served as an intermediary between the pope and Soviet Premier Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. (likely)
- Pope Francis canonized John XXIII on 27 April 2014 without requiring the traditional second miracle, basing the decision on the good produced by John's opening of the Second Vatican Council; he was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II on Divine Mercy Sunday. (certain)