Fifty years after his return to the Father, let’s take a look at the Pope who dedicated an Encyclical to the holy Cur\u00e9. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born near Bergamo (northern Italy), the fourth of a modest family of fourteen children. After attending the minor and major seminaries, he was ordained a priest on August 10, 1904.<\/p>\n
He became the bishop’s secretary, then professor of Church history at the Bergamo seminary and, during the war, military chaplain. When approached about working at the Vatican, he replied: “I’m a man who can do very little. I write very slowly. Lazy by nature, I’m easily distracted in my work.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the Pope appointed him to Propaganda Fide (1). In 1925, he was sent as apostolic delegate and later bishop to Bulgaria (Orthodox). With his good-natured, pastoral manner, he breaks down tensions between communities. Promoted ten years later to apostolic delegate (with the title of archbishop) in Turkey and Greece, he was once again faced with a delicate situation. During the war, he worked hard to help the victims of the Nazis. Appointed nuncio in Paris at the end of 1944, he skilfully resolved the delicate issue of bishops compromised with the Vichy regime. His warm, unceremonious nature is disconcerting, but defuses many a conflict…<\/p>\n
The Holy See’s first observer at UNESCO, he was appointed Patriarch of Venice in 1953, and was made a cardinal by Pius XII the same year. After a laborious conclave, he was elected 261st<\/sup> pope on October 28, 1958. The so-called “transitional pope” created a surprise on January 25, 1959, when he convened the Second Vatican Council, which he opened on October 11, 1962. On August1<\/sup>, 1959, he signed the Encyclical Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia dedicated to the Cur\u00e9 d’Ars (centenary of his death). In it, he speaks of the importance of Saint J-M Vianney for his priesthood, and of the grace of having been ordained a priest shortly after his beatification and a bishop in the year of his canonization…<\/p>\n His Encyclical aims to “present him to the whole world as a model of priestly asceticism, a model of piety and especially of Eucharistic piety, a model of pastoral zeal”. First, he discusses his asceticism and his way of living the evangelical counsels. The second part develops his prayer life and Eucharistic faith.<\/p>\n He notes that his prayer “was above all a Eucharistic prayer”, and concludes: “It is through the practice of such an enlightened and fervent worship of the Eucharist that a priest increases his spiritual life and forges the missionary energies of the most valiant apostles”. Finally, he discusses his pastoral zeal through his actions, his preaching and catechisms and, of course, his countless confessions.<\/p>\n The Pope concludes with this appeal to young people: “Despite these great difficulties, let no one doubt the profound happiness that is shared by the fervent priest called by the Savior Jesus to collaborate in the holiest of works, that of the redemption of souls and the growth of the Mystical Body. Christian families, weigh up your responsibilities and give your sons to the service of the Church with joy and gratitude!<\/p>\n Stricken with two cancers, he died on June 3, 1963. The man who soon earned the nickname “Good Pope John” will be beatified on September 3, 2000.<\/p>\n On April 27, 2014, during the Mass of Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis presides over the canonization ceremony of Pope John XXIII.<\/p>\n From Annales d’Ars no. 345 [juillet – ao\u00fbt 2013].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4867,"template":"","class_list":["post-6609","grands-temoins-dars","type-grands-temoins-dars","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arsnet.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/grands-temoins-dars\/6609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arsnet.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/grands-temoins-dars"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arsnet.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/grands-temoins-dars"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arsnet.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arsnet.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}