Pope St. John XXIII
1881-1963
“HE IS too old!” was the remark made by many when in his late 60s Cardinal Roncalli, patriarch of Venice, was elected pope. At best, several thought, he would be a “caretaker” or transition pope until one day a younger and fitter pope would be elected.
But Pope John XXIII surprised many when he called for a renewal “aggiornamento” of the Church which at that point in time seemed like an old, decaying and darkened church badly in need of light and fresh air. Renewal he did by calling for the Second Vatican Council.
Once when this pope received a portrait as a gift from an aspiring artist who insisted on having the pope write some words at the bottom of the painting. His holiness, whose looks were not great, he having a huge Roman nose and a sagging chin, took a look at the portrait which was worse than how the pope really looked, still managed to get a pen and write at the portrait’s bottom, “Fear not, it is I!”(Nolite timere, ego sum).
On another occasion, some influential people from Rome invited the pope to a grand banquet. To tease him, the banquet’s organizers seated John XXIII between two ladies whose low-cut evening gowns did not leave much to the imagination. Guests noticed the awkward setting.
At the end of the banquet some newspapermen impishly asked, “How did your Holiness feel being seated between two buxom ladies?”
Without batting an eye the Pope answered, “I felt like Christ in Calvary, crucified between two thieves!”