Pope John XXIII

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli

Pope · 1881–1963

Who is Pope John XXIII?

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born in 1881 in Sotto il Monte, Italy, to a family of tenant farmers, and rose through a long career as a Vatican diplomat before his election as Pope John XXIII in 1958 at the age of 76. Though widely expected to be a brief, transitional "caretaker" pope, he surprised the world in January 1959 by announcing the Second Vatican Council, a landmark gathering of the world's Catholic bishops that opened in October 1962 and reshaped the Church's engagement with the modern world, its liturgy, and its relations with other faiths. Known affectionately as "Good Pope John" for his warmth, humility, and simple pastoral style, he also worked to ease Cold War tensions, notably intervening quietly during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and issued the encyclical Pacem in Terris in 1963, addressed for the first time not only to Catholics but to "all people of good will." He died in June 1963 before the Council he convened had concluded. He was canonized a saint by Pope Francis in 2014, and his tomb lies beneath the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica.

Sources: Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, encyclical (1963) · Peter Hebblethwaite, Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World (1985) · Vatican Council II, Opening Address Gaudet Mater Ecclesia (11 October 1962)

Quotes by Pope John XXIII

“See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little.”

A maxim describing John XXIII's pastoral leadership style, favoring patience and gentle correction over strict severity.

Pope John XXIII

Source: Attributed to Pope John XXIII, widely documented in papal biographies, including Peter Hebblethwaite, Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World (1985)

“I often wake up at night and start to think about a serious problem, and decide to tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.”

A self-deprecating anecdote John XXIII often told about learning to release his anxieties by trusting the office he held to God's care.

Pope John XXIII

Source: Attributed to Pope John XXIII, widely recounted in papal biographies and Vatican historical accounts

“We must never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers. But at the same time we must look to the present, to the new conditions and new forms of life introduced into the modern world.”

From his address opening the Second Vatican Council, balancing fidelity to Church tradition with openness to engaging the modern world.

Pope John XXIII

Source: Pope John XXIII, opening address to the Second Vatican Council, Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, 11 October 1962