POPE JOHN XXIII AND VATICAN II

 

 

I was a student in Rome throughout the entire time that John XXIII was pope (1958-1963). I met him two days after his election, when the then Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Gilroy, took the Sydney students with him for his visit to the pope. I remember this new pope as exuberant and constantly moving about, so that his brand new white skull cap kept slipping off his bald head and, as the youngest person present, I had the job of picking it up and handing it back to him. I was a blond, fresh-faced youth and the first papal words ever addressed to me (no doubt infallible) were “Ah, no beard”.

I remember that first exhilarating month when he left the Vatican more often than the pope before him, Pius XII, had in nineteen years.  I remember him visiting the major prison in Rome and, rather than delivering a profound discourse on the morality of prison life, telling the prisoners of an uncle of his who had done time for sheep stealing.  He won my imagination and my undying affection, as he did for millions of other people.  

 

ONE OF THE GREATEST POPES  

There are three reasons why I consider him one of the greatest popes in all of history.   The first is that for him the gospel truly meant what the word itself means, “good news”.   This good news filled him with joy, and he constantly radiated a true Christian joy to all around him.  He decried the “prophets of doom”, he wanted to dialogue with the world rather than condemn it, and he instinctively knew that praising one good thing in the life of either a person or a whole society achieves far more than condemning ten bad things.  Ever since that time it has seemed to me that the very first task of any pope or priest is to tell the world with their whole being that the gospel is indeed good news. 

The second reason is that, though he carried the office of pope with great dignity and distinction, the greatness of the office was never allowed to obscure his humanity.  Pope John XXIII and the boy and man Angelo Roncalli were never two different people.  If you want a good priest, even a papal one, first find a good Christian, and if you want a good Christian, first find a good human being.  One builds on the other and, without the good human being, there is little hope of building a good priest.  The wholeness and goodness of a most likeable human being shone through everything Pope John did.   He possessed the “natural virtues” in abundance and the Christian and priestly virtues built on them. 

The third reason is that he had the humility to know that he did not have all the answers to the problems facing the Church as it entered the new and difficult world of the 1960s.   And so it was with his heart first and his head second that he instinctively turned to the collective wisdom of the whole Church and called a Council. 

An integrated and whole human being, whose priesthood and papacy built on the firm foundation of his humanity, filled to overflowing with the joy of the good news of Jesus Christ and with the humility to turn to the collective wisdom of the whole Church  -  to me this will always be the basis of the Second Vatican Council.  Without in any way lessening the importance of the contributions of Pope Paul VI and many, many others, to me it will always be Pope John’s council, for he gave it its spirit and inspiration. 

 

THE COUNCIL AND THE POPE 

His emphasis on the importance of our basic humanity is reflected in statements of the Council that speak of qualities which are esteemed by all people and which make Christ's ministers acceptable, such as "sincerity, a constant love of justice, fidelity to one's promises, courtesy in deed, modesty and charity in speech" (The Training of Priests, n.11). 

His joy in the good news of Jesus Christ and his positive attitude towards the world are perhaps nowhere better reflected than in the famous opening sentences of the document on The Church in the Modern World,

“The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well.  Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts.”

His instinctive turning to the collective wisdom of the Church is reflected in the Council’s teaching on the collegiality of the bishops, the priesthood of all Christ’s faithful and the sensus fidei of the whole Church, that instinctive sensitivity and power of discernment in matters of faith that Christ’s faithful collectively possess (Lumen Gentium, no.12).  

May we not say that, taken together, these represent many of the greatest achievements of the Council?  And they all reflect the wonderful person who, against much opposition, called this Council together. 

 

THE TWO JOHNS  

Two years after Angelo Roncalli became Pope John, John Kennedy was elected President of the United States .  For a brief two and a half years we had the era of the two Johns.  To young people of today it is hard to describe the extraordinary sense of euphoria that many young people of that day felt in those years.  A new world seemed to be dawning, a world that was without limits in its promise and in which all problems could be overcome if only we were prepared to give generously of ourselves.  The great, inspirational phrases from both of these leaders filled our minds. 

The first session of the Council took place in this atmosphere.  There was the heady moment when a Cardinal stood up and said solemnly, “Schema non placet”, in effect, “The tired document the Roman Curia has presented to us is not even an adequate basis for discussion.  Take it away and start again.  Give us something more exciting and inspirational, something that will lift our hearts and lead us into the future.” 

Events like this exploded like bombshells in the college in Rome where I was studying.  The Church appeared to be renewing and changing before our very eyes. 

Pope John died in June 1963, after only one session of the Council.  John Kennedy was assassinated in November of the same year and his reputation would later be tarnished.  Other people came to the fore and powerful forces rocked the world and the Church during the 1960s.  The dream of those few glorious years of the two Johns did not become a reality.  

I recently re-read some of the speeches of President Kennedy and Pope John.  The speeches of Kennedy now appear to me somewhat dated, but those of Pope John still ring out fresh and strong for those who are ready to listen.  I may now belong to another era, but the inspiration of those years formed my priesthood and my life.  I have never wanted to leave them behind and I do not want to do so now. 

 

THE LEGACY OF THE COUNCIL  

The spirit of Pope John lived on in the three remaining sessions of the Council after his death.  It is to the eternal credit of Pope Paul VI that he did all in his power to be faithful to that spirit.  Though he was a very different person himself, he respected the collective wisdom of the whole Church and sought to implement the Council over the following years. 

I met Pope Paul VI briefly on one occasion, but it was a meeting of two shy people, with neither really knowing what to say.  There was none of the sheer wonder and exhilaration of the meeting with Pope John. 

And yet Paul VI embodied the documents of the Council.  He was Pope for three of the four sessions and it was he who helped to give flesh to many of John’s dreams. 

In hindsight, visionaries like the two Johns will never be at centre stage for long and the reality that comes from them will always be less than the dream.  And yet those who lived the dream will never forget it and will always long for it.  

Not all the documents of the Council are of the same value, with one or two already being little more than historical curiosities.  And yet the great documents of that Council still have the power to move and inspire me.  They have the power to revive memories and take me back forty years to a time when a young president and a joyful pope made me believe that it truly was possible to create a better world.