Pope John XXIII

Saint John XXIII (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on 28 October 1958. He called the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) but did not live to see it to completion, dying two months after the completion of his final encyclical, Pacem in Terris. He was beatified on 3 September 2000 and canonized on April 27 2014. His feast day is 11 October in the Catholic Church. He is also commemorated on 3 June by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and on 4 June by the Anglican Church of Canada.

Pope John XXIII

Quotes

We are not on earth as museum keepers, but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life and to prepare a glorious future.

• From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way.
  • Journal of a Soul (1903)

• One of my favorite phrases that brings me great comfort: We are not on earth as museum keepers, but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life and to prepare a glorious future. The Pope is dead. Long live the Pope!
  • Journal entry on the day Pope Pius XII died (9 October 1958); published in Journal of a Soul (1965)

• [Pacem esse] dicimus in veritate positam, ad iustitiae praecepta constitutam, caritate altam et expletam, libertate postremo auspice effectam.
  • [Peace must be] founded on truth, built according to justice, vivified and integrated by charity, and put into practice in freedom.
    • Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963), ¶ 167

Quotes about John XXIII

• John XXIII, when asked "How many people work in the Vatican?" replied, "Probably about half".
  • Relayed by Pope John Paul II to Mieczyslaw Malinski, quoted by Garry O'Connor in Universal Father: A Life of Pope John Paul II.

• Visiting a hospital he asked a boy what he wanted to be when he grew up. The boy said either a policeman or a pope. "I would go in for the police if I were you," the Holy Father said. "Anyone can become a pope, look at me!"
  • Emily Antenucci and Carol Glatz, in "Jokes, quips, wisecracks: John XXIII lived with keen sense of humor" at Catholic News Service (24 March 2014)

• When a cardinal complained that a rise in Vatican salaries meant a particular usher earned as much as the cardinal, the pope remarked: "That usher has 10 children; I hope the cardinal doesn't."
  • Emily Antenucci and Carol Glatz, in "Jokes, quips, wisecracks: John XXIII lived with keen sense of humor" at Catholic News Service (24 March 2014)

• Not long after he was elected pope, John was walking in the streets of Rome. A woman passed him and said to her friend, "My God, he's so fat!" Overhearing what she said, he turned around and replied, "Madame, I trust you understand that the papal conclave is not exactly a beauty contest."
  • Emily Antenucci and Carol Glatz, in "Jokes, quips, wisecracks: John XXIII lived with keen sense of humor" at Catholic News Service (24 March 2014)

• When he was cardinal and patriarch of Venice, the future pope was talking with a wealthy city resident and told him, "You and I have one thing in common: money. You have a lot and I have nothing at all. The difference is I don't care about it."
  • Emily Antenucci and Carol Glatz, in "Jokes, quips, wisecracks: John XXIII lived with keen sense of humor" at Catholic News Service (24 March 2014)

• It is with great pleasure that I have learned of your election as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. I join with other Americans in extending my congratulations on your elevation to this high office. My best wishes for the success of your endeavors are, I am certain, shared by men of good will everywhere.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower; Message to His Holiness Pope John XXIII Online, The American Presidency Project; 12 September 1958

• It is difficult to realize that three years have elapsed since Your Holiness announced that you planned to convene an Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church--the first in almost a hundred years. During these three fateful years, millions of my fellow citizens in the United States, including many who do not belong to the Catholic Church, have followed with lively and sympathetic interest the work of the various preparatory Commissions appointed by Your Holiness to draw up the agenda for this extraordinarily important Council. They have also read, with particular interest and with genuine admiration for your all-embracing concern for the welfare of humanity, the several inspiring statements issued by Your Holiness on the background and purposes of the Council.
  • John F. Kennedy; Message to Pope John XXIII on the Occasion of the Opening of the Second Vatican Council Online, The American Presidency Project; 5 October 1962