Anticipation. “Pope Luciani, a humble man with a profound culture”


Pope Luciani receives his family members in audience after the election

Pope Luciani receives his family members in audience after the election – Sicilians

We publish large excerpts from the testimony of the bishop emeritus of Belluno-Feltre, Giuseppe Andrich, included in the book “Il postino di Dio”.

Urged to present the figure of Albino Luciani – Pope John Paul I – I intend to do so by drawing on personal knowledge (being his fellow countryman) and notes collected by me. The bibliography is abundant, but I will not refer to it. Who was John Paul I? Why did he immediately fascinate not only the Catholic faithful? Why did he so impress the way he talked about him? John Paul I was the only Pope of the Venetians who had risen to the papal throne from 1789 onwards, whose career prior to the election took place only in the region of origin. (…) Luciani’s original environment was popular and traditional and in it the Church represented the only point of reference. (…) Luciani entered the seminary at eleven and left as a priest at twenty-three: there he learned a severe discipline of life and a pastoral conception of the function of the Church based on three presuppositions: detachment from the world (against all worldliness), obedience to superiors, absolute loyalty to the institution; three presuppositions that remained the beacon of his whole life until the papacy. He immediately distinguished himself for his great intellectual curiosity and inexhaustible interest in reading.

Joseph Andrich

Giuseppe Andrich – Bratti

In 1956, when he was sixteen, he gave me some books to read during the holidays, but he told me that his parish priest “trembled” for his vocation, knowing he was passionate about reading. (…) he had a great desire to read, to know and to be updated, but he was not an ultramodern or frontier priest; he had a deep sense of the obedience, discipline and consideration of the Magisterium of the Pope and of the bishops. (…) During a conversation he taught me, among other things, to speed up reading. As bishop, patriarch and pope, he re-proposed the communicative style, themes and attitudes that had always been his since he was a priest in Belluno.

And he did so consciously: he knew how to evaluate the different expectations of people in the various ever-expanding pastoral commitments. The first real public debut as Pope took place on the morning of Sunday, August 27, 1978. The speech to the cardinals was in Latin, a text in which the words were considered and in which he used the majestic we. Completely “revolutionary” was instead the Angelus, exceptionally pronounced from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. None of the journalists present knew what the Pope would say. The text was not distributed. Someone was expected to put a written speech in his hand. Instead, all the forecasts turned out to be wrong: the Pontiff began to speak off the cuff. (…)

It should be emphasized that Luciani’s very short pontificate, with his off-the-cuff speech, led to an effective and irreversible transformation in the ways of pontifical communication. From a young age he began to write. He liked being a journalist. Communicate with the written word. He had been trained since the seminary years when he wrote in the parish bulletin, then for The friend of the People, the diocesan weekly. In 1960 he wrote a series of articles on “the word of God” wrapped up “, that is, on the advisability of making newspapers a channel for evangelization. An important chapter, which should be explored, is his commitment to re-evaluate the language of films.

Surprising was the passion for the history of art, and in particular for the history of local art. (…) Luciani knew that his stances were creating a vacuum around him, but he did not hesitate: «What would you do in my place? Should I forbid any mention of errors or dangerous opinions put around? I think not, I would betray my mission and the Christian people, whose first right is to know clearly what are the virtues revealed by God ”.

When he was appointed bishop – I was eighteen at the time – I went to his study in the seminary and, before I could say anything, he warned me: «Did you come to offer me condolences? “. Luciani’s style was not crusader; it was a different style, but not light. Five Sunday addresses, four catecheses and twelve speeches make up the whole of John Paul I’s four weeks of doctrine. But of all his words, the phrase that has gone down in history is the affirmation contained in the Angelus of 10 September: ” God is dad; even more he is a mother ».

The French historian Sylvie Barnay (born in 1964) in particular focused on this expression with finesse and depth: “It is striking to note how the network of metaphors that runs through the writings of the future John Paul I clearly privileges those of paternity, motherhood, marriage and childhood. Far from any form of anecdotism, this supporting structure seems to testify to a deeper doctrinal formulation on the relationship between God and man, in the light of an anthropology of parenthood. The two complementary functions that each of the parental figures traditionally exercise are clearly shown here: maternal affection and paternal authority (I recall a lesson by Father Juan Mateos – 1917-2003 – at the Oriental Institute, (mother who welcomes, father that points).

Reconciling them is essential. No doctrinal affirmation can be made without the alternative recourse to these two attitudes of parenthood, taking care not to confuse roles and genders ”. And again: “By introducing the vision of a mother God” even more “than a father, Luciani did not homologate feminist theologies in any way, but instead inserted himself – as Barnay demonstrated – in the wake of an ancient tradition (it seems that Clemente Alessandrino the first father of the Church to establish a parallel between paternity and maternity of God).

Using a family analogy – and probably having in mind the maternal example (mother Bortola) – he first proposed an image of God that springs from an image of humanity in its totality, understanding the characteristics of the two sexes. God is father and mother in the relationship with his creatures ». A very topical issue addressed with decision by Pope Luciani was that inherent in the Second Vatican Council. (…) That period lived in the first person affected his personality. “I am a convert of the Council,” he used to repeat to his direct collaborators. He was a bishop who trusted in the Council, but rejected its exuberance; that he interpreted authority with education and courtesy, but without renouncing any of his prerogatives as a priest and pastor. (…) Who was John Paul I really? Those who, like me, have known him personally since he was a priest among us, together with his unmistakable lively and deep eyes, remember him for the shrewd words he used towards us; you can never forget how he made us feel at ease.

Don Albino was a humble, modest, kind and inconspicuous priest, but in reality he hid an original personality, a solid and profound culture, an uncommon intellectual curiosity, an openness to modernity developed through an intense intellectual life in all ages. He was a traditional bishop, but able to look with a clear eye on the new that was coming forward: to ensure the renewal of the Church, in the historical continuity of the institution. «Albino Luciani was truly a“ magis ostensus quam datus ”man. It was, in his very brief appearance, a visit from God to his Church ”, as Patriarch Francesco Moraglia said. I am convinced that this son of Venetian Catholicism would have been an incisive man of government, like Pius X, a very acute reformer like John XXIII and a Pontiff who, like Gregory XVI, would have guided the Church by privileging missionary commitment. Remembering with personal affection and veneration Pope Luciani, the future blessed, I make my own the words of the Brazilian Cardinal Paulo Arns.

Just after the conclave of August 1978 he wanted to come to Canale to visit his native town and testified that Luciani was known and esteemed by the South American bishops as a man of faith: «This is precisely what our Church desires. And Luciani, perhaps better known in Italy than in Italy for his stances dictated by great faith, appeared to be the ideal Pope, non-diplomatic, non-political, non-curial. And then a Pope who smiles, indeed who laughs (Chopin used to say: “Whoever never laughs is not a serious personality”). It will seem secondary to you, for poor peoples a Pope who smiles is already a great gift. We know, moreover, that behind that smile there is a great spirituality, a strong temper, a generous heart ».

bishop emeritus of Belluno-Feltre

Anticipation. “Pope Luciani, a humble man with a profound culture”