Saint Pope John XXIII

First published in the October 9, 2022 Bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, Delray Beach, FL

When Father Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli said his first Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in 1904, he couldn’t have known it was only the first of many times he would say Mass there, or that he would have the honor of being buried there. He was just a young priest, ordained at the age of 23, from a poor family who lived in the north of Italy, in a little town of Sotto il Monte, Italy. Over 50 years later, in 1958, he would become known to the world as Pope John XXIII.

His predecessor, Pope Pius XII, died on October 9, 1958. The College of Cardinals met beginning on October 25, 1958 to elect a new Pope. Certainly, they all entered the Conclave with an idea of who they wanted to elect, but it took them three days and twelve ballots to elect Cardinal Roncalli was elected as Pope on the twelfth ballot. Because he was almost 78 years old, many people thought he was elected as a “caretaker.” They expected him to do little as Pope, and that, at the time of the next Papal election, there would be a strong candidate who had everyone’s support. But God takes care of his church, and the Holy Spirit choose Cardinal Roncalli not as a caretaker, but as a Pope who would change the Church itself.

People were surprised when Pope John XXIII called for the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican  (commonly called “Vatican II”). Vatican II was the twenty-first council in the history of the Church. The Council immediately preceding it, the First Vatican Council, took place in 1869-1870. The last council before that was the Council of Trent, which took place from 1545-1563. But Pope John XXIII believed the work of the First Vatican Council was not completed, and that the Church needed to  find new ways to approach and teach people in the increasingly secularized world. Just three months after his election, Pope John XXIII met with a small group of Cardinals. He told them that he had two specific goals for the council: “the enlightenment, edification, and joy of the entire Christian people,” and “a renewed cordial invitation to the faithful of the separated Churches to participate with us in this feast of grace and brotherhood [sic], for which so many souls long in all parts of the world.” (John XXIII Calls The Council", National Catholic Reporter, 2009, https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/john-xxiii-calls-council.)

The sixteen documents of Vatican II brought far-reaching changes to the Church. The first document, “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” lead to changes in liturgy so that people would be able to more fully participate. Turning the altar around to face the people and saying the majority of the Mass in the local language are only two of the revisions that come from this document.

Pope John XXIII did not live to see the conclusion of Vatican II. He died on June 3, 1963. His successor, Pope Paul VI, brought Vatican II to a close on December 8, 1965, and implemented its reforms. Those reforms come from the documents of Vatican II.

You can find good, one-sentence explanations of each of the sixteen documents at https://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/1-sentence-on-each-of-the-16-documents-of-vatican-ii/

You can read the full text of each of the documents in a variety of languages at https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm

You might also enjoy Revolution of John XXIII: The Second Vatican Council, an hour long video on Formed.org at https://watch.formed.org/videos/revolution-of-john-xxiii-the-second-vatican-council