John Paul I

Albino Luciani was born on 17 October 1912 in Forno di Canale (now Canale d'Agordo) in the province of Belluno, Veneto, northern Italy, the son of the bricklayer Giovanni Luciani and Bortola Tancon. Thought to be in danger of death, he was baptized the same day by the midwife; the solemn rites followed two days later in the parish church. He grew up with brothers Federico and Edoardo and sister Antonia in a hardworking mountain family. At the age of ten he was deeply moved by a Capuchin Lenten preacher and asked his father's leave to become a priest. Giovanni consented, adding the charge that would mark his son's whole life: "I hope that when you become a priest you will be on the side of the workers, for Christ Himself would have been on their side."

He entered the minor seminary of Feltre in 1923 and later the major seminary of Belluno. Ordained priest on 7 July 1935, he first served as curate in his native parish, then as professor and vice-rector of the Belluno seminary from 1937, teaching dogmatic and moral theology, canon law, and sacred art. With a special dispensation from Pope Pius XII he earned a doctorate in sacred theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1947 (magna cum laude) with a thesis on the origin of the human soul according to Antonio Rosmini. That same year he became chancellor to Bishop Girolamo Bortignon of Belluno and, in 1954, vicar general of the diocese. In 1949 he published Catechesis in Crumbs, a simple handbook for teaching the faith to ordinary people.

On 15 December 1958 Pope John XXIII named him Bishop of Vittorio Veneto. Consecrated by the Pope himself, he took as his episcopal motto Humilitas and told his people he wished to be "a bishop who is a teacher and a servant." He took part in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council and issued pastoral letters explaining its purpose. Between 1965 and 1969 he faced the painful Montaner schism, in which almost an entire village left the Catholic Church after rejecting his appointment of a parish priest; he insisted on episcopal authority over appointments yet sought pastoral resolution. In 1966 he visited Burundi. At the 1971 Synod of Bishops he urged industrialized dioceses to give about one percent of their income to developing nations "not as alms, but something that is owed" in reparation for social sin.

Pope Paul VI appointed him Patriarch of Venice on 15 December 1969 and created him Cardinal-Priest of San Marco on 5 March 1973. As patriarch he upheld the Church's teaching on marriage and contraception with pastoral patience, established family counselling clinics for the poor, sold a gold pectoral cross once belonging to Pius XII and John XXIII to aid disabled children, and urged his clergy to live simply. He visited Germany, Brazil, and Fatima, where Sister Lúcia of the Fatima visionaries startled the humble cardinal by greeting him as "Holy Father." In 1976 he published Illustrissimi, open letters to literary and historical figures that revealed his warm, catechetical style.

After the death of Paul VI, Luciani entered the August 1978 conclave having told close friends he would decline if elected. On the fourth ballot he was chosen. When asked if he accepted, he replied, "May God forgive you for what you have done," yet accepted out of obedience. He took the unprecedented double name John Paul in gratitude to John XXIII, who had made him a bishop, and Paul VI, who had made him patriarch and cardinal. On the balcony he was presented to the world as the smiling new Pope. Cardinals spoke of a "moral miracle"; Mother Teresa called him "a sunbeam of God's love." He set six priorities: renew the Church through Vatican II, revise canon law, preach the Gospel, foster unity without diluting doctrine, promote dialogue, and work for peace and social justice. He humanized the papacy by speaking in the first person singular, refusing a coronation in favor of a simple inauguration with the pallium, and using the sedia gestatoria only when necessary so the crowds could see him.

His pontificate lasted thirty-three days. On the morning of 28 September 1978 he was found dead in his apartment. The brief reign of the "September Pope" and "Pope of the Smile" left an indelible impression of evangelical simplicity. Declared Servant of God by John Paul II in 2003, Venerable by Francis in 2017, he was beatified by Pope Francis on 4 September 2022. His feast is kept on 28 September.

May Blessed John Paul I obtain for us a humble heart that smiles with the charity of Christ and stands always on the side of the poor.