© Reuters, Pope Francis, Pope John Paul I, the faithful at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican, September 4, 2022.
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By Philip Pullela
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope John Paul II, who passed away in 1978 after 33 days as archbishop, was close to sainthood on Sunday.
Pope Francis beat the pope in front of tens of thousands of people at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square. Beatification is the last step before canonization in the Roman Catholic Church.
John Paul was known as the “Smiling Pope” for his gentleness and simplicity.
“With a smile, Pope John Paul was able to communicate the goodness of the Lord,” Francis said as people huddled under thundering umbrellas during his homily.
“How beautiful is a church that has a happy, calm and smiling face, that does not shut doors, that does not harden hearts, that does not complain or hold grudges, that does not get angry or impatient, that does not shy away or long for the past.
Albino Luciani was born into poverty in a mountain village in northern Italy in 1912. He was ordained a priest in 1935, a bishop in 1958 and a cardinal in 1973.
In the year On August 26, 1978, when Pope Paul VI died, he was elected as bishop, taking the name John Paul to honor the two closest leaders.
At 5:20 a.m. on September 29, two papal monks heard a knock at the door and found him dead in bed. Doctors said he died of a heart attack and his assistants did not take it seriously despite complaining of chest pain a day earlier.
Conflicting versions
At first, the Vatican said that two women had entered the pope’s bedchamber, only to be found lifeless by a priest.
The Vatican corrected itself, but the misstep led to conspiracy theories.
In the year In 1984, “In the Name of God – An Investigation into the Assassination of Pope John Paul I”, by English author David Yallop, who argued that the Pope was poisoned by a cabal linked to a secret Masonic lodge, spent 15 weeks on the New York Times rich list. .
The New York Times’ own book review, however, derided Yallop’s investigative techniques, and in 1987 another Briton, John Cornwell, wrote a book called “A Thief in the Night.”
In the 20th century, the idea that a pope was killed in his bedroom became less well-worn but irresistibly embedded in the collective consciousness, and in the movie “The Godfather Part III,” Pope John Paul I was killed by poisoned tea.
Asked on Italian television about the conspiracy theories on Friday, Vatican foreign minister Cardinal Pietro Parolini said: “There is no truth to it.”
“It’s a shame that this story, this noir novel, went on. It died a natural death. There’s no mystery about it,” Parolin said.
Italian journalist and author Stefania Flasca, who spent 10 years documenting John Paul’s life and medical history, has written several books about him. She called the conspiracy theories “crowd-driven garbage.”
Flaska, who was the deputy postmaster or promoter of the cause of holiness, said he was being beaten not because of what he did as a bishop, but because of the way he lived his life.
John Paul is credited with the miracle cure of an 11-year-old Argentinian girl with severe brain swelling, epilepsy and septic shock. Her parents prayed to him.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God can perform miracles, but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven intercede on behalf of those who pray to them.
John Paul needs to prove a second miracle to be canonized.