"One day, in the Vatican, a Venetian who worked in the security services said to him as their paths crossed, «Eminence, allow me to offer you my best wishes for the conclave.
– How do you mean? That proves you wish me ill.
– On the contrary… At the 1958 conclave, Cardinal Roncalli said, “None of you desires to become Pope, but one of you must accept the position.”»
The Patriarch answered him, his face visibly grave, «If that was what was needed to get into Paradise, one might just about accept it.5»
On August 22, during a friendly conversation, Senator Lino Innocenti di Conegliano informed him that journalists were predicting that he would be the choice of the Sacred College. The Patriarch protested, declaring that «this report was baseless and that, if it were confirmed at the conclave, it would be a tragedy for him»6.
The day before the conclave opened, on Thursday, August 24, Cardinal Thiandoum invited him to dine with him at theMadri Pie Sisters in the Via Alcide De Gasperi. «The prognosis», the Archbishop of Dakar told him, «is that the Sacred College could well vote for you.
– That’s no business of mine», the Patriarch replied, becoming preoccupied and pensive7.
That day he hastily wrote several notes. To Doctor Gianni Urbani he wrote: «Even though, in the final analysis, it is the Lord who guides the Church, it is particularly important that the Vicar of Christ be a true man of God. To play a part in choosing him by one’s vote, to point one’s finger at someone and say to the Lord, “Take him”, is a great responsibility which fills me with awe. Fortunately I am confident that I will not be that person, despite several “tales” put about by journalists.
“All that is pure conspiracy”,
Pius X would have said.8»
“His humility was a choice, because he was always conscious of his intelligence, but he was conscious too that this was a gift from God,” the niece explained.
Mrs. Basso noted that Luciani thought of himself as an ordinary priest. “His dream was to have a parish in the lake region and bring with him his mother and his father, because he said his mother would be happy to be in a house on the lake.” He never realized his dream.
Instead, Luciani would reluctantly accept what ambitious clerics yearned for: promotion to the highest ranks in the church hierarchy. “I must accept the will of Providence,” he would say resignedly, according to Mrs. Basso.
Just before entering the conclave that elected him, Luciani wrote to her expressing relief that he was “out of danger.”
“I think he was afraid of that. He was hoping that it wouldn’t happen,” she conjectured.
«His insistent claim that he was “out of danger”», remarks Regina Kummer, «seems to have been a way of easing his mind, an attempt to free himself from the anguish gripping him. If he had really had no belief in the possibility of his being elected, why would he have seen it as a danger?» If he had thought it was totally out of the question that he might be elected, it would not have occupied his mind with such an intensity. «No, he was not “out of danger”. On the contrary, the danger was imminent. He knew it, or at least envisaged it, and he sought to conceal his feelings from all those who were close to him.11»
The conclave opened on Friday, August 25, 1978, late in the afternoon. When the Patriarch set off for the Vatican, Don Diego said to him, «Eminence, tomorrow, at this hour, you will already have received a great many votes.
– At any rate, if they make me Pope, I will refuse… I will tell them, “My dear Cardinals, I am very sorry but you must choose someone else.”12»
After the opening ceremony, the Patriarch passed with a heavy tread along the corridor of the loggia on the Vatican’s second floor, his Rosary in his hand13.
The next day, at the second ballot, the cardinals’ votes swung behind him in great numbers. «Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, as I was going to the Sistine Chapel for the third vote», Cardinal Malula would relate, «I met Patriarch Luciani. I embraced him because the way the conclave was going already showed that something was afoot. He said to me, “Tempestas magna est super me. A great storm is over my head.”14»
At the count for the fourth ballot, he «became very pale»15 as his share of the vote increased. «Several times», recounts one prelate, «I saw him clasp his face in his hands.16»
His colleague on his right, Cardinal Willebrands, whispered in his ear, «Courage! When the Lord gives a burden to carry, He also gives the grace to bear its weight.» As for his colleague on his left, Patriarch Ribeiro from Lisbon, he whispered to him, «Don’t be afraid. There are so many people throughout the world praying for the new Pope.17»
«As his election grew ever more likely», Cardinal Deardon remarked, «his face became more strained. After that he displayed a kind of resignation and even a great serenity.18»
Several days later, when he granted an audience to members of his family, he appeared completely calm and revealed his truly supernatural spirit: «Our Lord will come to Our aid, precisely because I have done nothing to attain this position. So I am at peace. You also should be.25»
“J.M.J. The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917. I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine. After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God. Tuy-3-1-1944”. From the day after his election, John Paul I began resolutely to fulfil all the duties of his office. Msgr. Giuseppe Caprio, Substitute of the Secretariat of State, remembers the new Pope’s first telephone call, on Sunday, August 27. «My telephone rang and John Paul I told me in a firm voice, “This is the Pope here.” I was surprised by the determination and conviction with which he had pronounced these words: he was asking me to go up to the papal apartments. After that we saw each other two or three times a day. We worked together. I used to sit next to him, I would submit files to him, and he would make decisions. He was determined that his directives and orders should be followed. “If anyone makes difficulties for you”, he would say to me, “point out that it is the Pope who wants it.”30» Twenty-four hours after his election, on August 27, the Holy Father took his first decisions regarding the Vatican finances. David Yallop recounts that, having provisionally reinstated Cardinal Villot in his office as Secretary of State, «he instructed him to initiate an investigation immediately. There was to be a review of the entire financial operation of the Vatican; a detailed analysis of every aspect. “No department, no congregation, no section is to be excluded”, Luciani told Villot. He made it clear that he was particularly concerned with the operation of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, the Institute for Religious Works, generally known as the Vatican Bank. The financial review was to be done discreetly, quickly and completely.31» |
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