Pope John XXIII (28 Okt 1958 Jahr – 3 Jun 1963 Jahr)
Beschreibung:
A Change Among Catholics?
John XXIII, elected as pope in 1958 at nearly 77 years of age, was considered by many Catholics to be merely a papa di passaggio, or interim pope. As it turned out, he opened the Vatican windows to winds of change that to this day are causing flurries in Catholic circles. One of Pope John’s first decisions, early in 1959, was to summon an ecumenical council, which, in Catholic parlance, meant a general meeting of the bishops of the entire Catholic Church.
The purpose of this gathering was, first, to “bring the church up to date” and, second, to “open the way toward the reunion of the separated brethren of East and West in the one fold of Christ.” In line with this second purpose, Pope John XXIII in 1960 set up at the Vatican the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. This was hailed as “the first official recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of the existence of the ecumenical movement.”
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Pope John XXIII Praised Mussolini
For some time now, a struggle seems to have been under way within the Catholic Church between those who are favorable to the canonization of Pope John XXIII and those who are opposed to it. It was recently made public that before becoming pope, John XXIII, in a number of letters dating back to the 1930’s, praised Benito Mussolini, the Fascist leader of Italy during the 1930’s and 1940’s. The then future pope said Mussolini seemed to be guided by “Providence.” These letters had been published years ago, but the editor, the former personal secretary of John XXIII, had censored the praise directed to the Fascist dictator to “avoid”—he now says—“political exploitation.” Some think that the censored passages have been made public only now in order to impede the course of the proceedings that could lead the present pope to proclaim John XXIII “blessed.” In any case, points out the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera, the revelation of those passages “does not add much to what was already known about the attitude of the ecclesiastical authorities toward Fascism.”
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A Dilemma for the Catholic Church
“A NEW PENTECOST.” Such was the hope that Pope John XXIII expressed for the ecumenical council that began in 1962 and that came to be known as Vatican II. He hoped that it would be a means of spiritual renewal among Catholics and that it would bring about changes that would pave the way for reuniting Christendom.
But such ideas of aggiornamento (updating) were not shared by all the prelates in the Vatican. The New Encyclopædia Britannica reports: “The Pope’s decision, consequently, was received coolly by his conservative Curia, who were convinced that the church had prospered under Pius XII’s leadership and who saw no good reason for the changes John envisioned. Some of the Vatican cardinals in fact did everything in their power to delay the council until the old man had passed from the scene and the project could be quietly dropped.”
Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism
Pope John XXIII lived long enough to set the Second Vatican Council in motion, but he died shortly afterward, in June 1963, long before the council concluded in December 1965.
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