World Church · October 13, 2026
Also published in Português (Brasil)
Pope John XXIII remembered as pastor of the world
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on 25 November 1881 in Brusico, within Sotto il Monte, in Bergamo province, to a poor family. His personal spiritual notes, collected in the Diary of the Soul, offer rare insight into his inner life. He once said that those pages contained more of his soul than any other writing.
On 10 August 1904, in the church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo on Piazza del Popolo, Roncalli received priestly ordination from Bishop Giuseppe Ceppetelli, titular patriarch of Constantinople and vice-gerent of Rome.
Throughout his ecclesial career he served as personal secretary to Bishop Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi of Bergamo, apostolic visitor in Bulgaria, representative of the Apostolic See in Turkey and Greece, and apostolic nuncio in France. From 1953 to 1958 he was patriarch of Venice. On 28 October 1958 cardinal Roncalli was elected to the See of Saint Peter. Though expected to be a transitional pope, he convened the Second Vatican Council and worked to preserve peace when, in October 1962, at Fidel Castro's request, Soviet authorities placed rocket launchers on Cuba, bringing the world to the brink of war. He left the encyclical Pacem in terris, dated 11 April 1963.
A special bond linked John XXIII with Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. The last entry in the Diary of the Soul, written shortly before his death on 20 May 1963, records an audience granted to Wyszyński. The pope noted: "O, dear saint my Bernardino, favorite among my saints. With the sweetness of your memory you brought me numerous signs of continuous great physical suffering which does not leave me and makes me think and suffer much. This morning I received Holy Communion for the third time, rejoicing, instead of the joy of celebrating Mass. Patience, patience." He could not refuse the farewell visit from Cardinal Wyszyński, primate of Poland, archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw, accompanied by four of his bishops returning to their homeland. Always accompanying him with great love were Cardinal Cicognani, Monsignor Capovilla, Brother Belotti Federico and the household staff.
Cardinal Loris Capovilla, then secretary to John XXIII, also wrote about this meeting in his diary: "He is tired. He is receiving Monsignor Dell'Acqua. The agenda includes an audience with Cardinal Wyszyński. I said to the pope: 'You may receive him, with his companions, in the bedroom; he will feel honored because of such trust.' He answered: 'We are not that weak; and even if I were to die during an audience, oh, how beautiful a death!' This would indeed be the last audience of his pontificate. The tenderness with which he embraces the sons of Poland is an essay of his love for all the people of the earth. 'See you in September,' the cardinal said when bidding farewell. To which the pope, smiling as in his spontaneous happy conversations, replied: 'In September you will find me or another pope. In this month, you know, everything happens: the funeral of one, the election of another.' He concluded: 'If it were not for so-called protocol, I would wish to accompany you, at least this time, to the Bronze Gate.'"
John XXIII is undoubtedly counted among the greatest popes. He was in reality "pastor of the world".