It's been almost twenty-nine years since John Paul I was called to be Pope but it seems like yesterday when I remember his smile. That smile was enough to move a 10 year old boy to start coming to Mass regularly and willingly. It stayed in my memory long enough so that I enjoyed reading Illistrisimi when I was a teenager. That was back when it was out of print in the USA and not always easy to find a copy. John Paul's letters, sermons, speeches, and articles have been an important influence on my spiritual life. His example is partly responsible for my choice in vocation. As an adult, I am a school teacher on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the USA and am very involved in the pastoral and social work of my parish and the missions that it serves. It is a great joy to learn that someone might have been heald by God through Papa Luciani's intercession. God grant that this good and faithful servant of his be canonized soon.
In Christ,
Jeff Hermsen
McLaughlin, SD
Standing Rock Indian Reservation
USA
I was priviledged to be in Rome during Papa Luciani's pontificate. More than that, something or someone made me attend the weekly audience on September 13th 1978. It's nealy 30 years ago but I have never forgotten that hour and a half. Nor have I forgotten the sorrow I felt when I learned of his death. When someone famous dies or something of magnitude happens we can remember where we were when we heard "the news". For some it's Kennedy, for some Princess Diana. For me it was Papa Luciani. I felt numb when I heard the news and cried - even though I wasn't a Catholic. He had made such an impression upon me and I've never forgotten him. I have recently converted to the Roman Catholic faith. It's been a long journey but I feel it started in September 1978 when I witnessed this holy and simple man just talking from his heart. What his papcy would have been like we can only imagine. God does, indeed, move in mysterious ways and the fact that he was on the world stage for such a brief period and that we still love, miss and remember him does make you wonder if God's plan was to do just that. We pray for his beatification and, I for one, feel that there will never be another Pope quite like him again. Lux aeterna luceat ei.
Fr. Giorgio Pittalis,o.p. from Dolores, Petén, Gautemala
This man would have, through the help of the Holy Spirit, changed the world and changed the church--all for the better. It is a great tragedy that his life was snuffed out before God wanted to take Him home.
Je n'ai pas eu le plaisir de connaître directement Jean-Paul I, mais je suis convaincu que l'auteur de "Humblement vôtre" est un homme de grande, très grande vertu.
Credo sia molto importante per un Pontefice arrivare al cuore dei credenti già alla Sua prima apparizione. Ero ragazzino quando fu eletto Giovanni 23°,il Papa buono,la prima in diretta TV. Ricordo una figura vestita di bianco con un viso pieno di bontà.Un grande nonno.La elezione di Papa Montini avvenne in un momento di grande trasformazione della società mondiale ma questo non gli impedì di portare a termine il grande lavoro iniziato dal Suo grande predecessore. Un papato sofferto, se non ricordo male disse che il "fumus di satana" era arrivato nelle stanze più importanti del Vaticano. Era il tempo dei Marcinkus, Calvi ed altri personaggi che con la Cristianità non avrebbero avuto niente a che fare. Arrivò il grande Albino Luciani, " il sorriso di Dio",il Papa pastore del quale l'intera comunità mondiale aveva bisogno in quel momento storico. A mio giudizio, trovò un Vaticano più impegnato in attività affaristiche che in attività umane. Lui, da sempre Pastore di Dio, soffrì molto di quella situazione. Forse il Suo cuore non resse a quelle grandi responsabilità e ci lasciò una grande eredità spirituale oltre il Suo tenero sorriso che ancora oggi porto nel cuore.Sono frequenti le mie visite al Suo sepolcro alle grotte vaticane Di papa Woytiva è ancora recente il ricordo di questo grande papa e grande uomo.
Vorrei tanto che l'attuale Pontefice si facesse amare così come hanno fatto i Suoi illustri predecessori, vorrei tanto che estendesse la pietà cristiana a tutti gli essere umani e non rifiutasse i conforti religiosi a nessuno anche al peccatore più grande,vorrei tanto che, sebbene tardivamente,rivedesse una recente decisione della Chiesa di rifiutare un atto di Cristianità ad un "povero cristo" che ha portato la Sua croce per decenni stando immobilizzato in un letto. Non fu forse Gesù a dire: Padre,perdona loro perchè non sanno quel che fanno"?
Il Suo sorriso ha aperto il cuore a milioni di persone avvicinandole al Signore. Spesso vengo a sostare davanti al Suo sepolcro alle grotte vaticane. Il Suo papato è stato breve ma grande il messaggio pastorale che ha lasciato.
Sabemos Papa Luciani que você está no céu no mais altos céus ao lado de nosso Cristo, apesar que fiquei muito decepcionado com as suspeitas sobre seu falecimento pois quero acreditar que você faleceu naturalmente. O pouco tempo de seu pontificado durou pouco mais foi o suficiente para ser inesquecível. Descobri que seu sorriso é a esperança para nós que permanecemos e convivemos com a sua perda! Obrigado Papa Luciani pelo teu carinho, simplicidade, amor e esse sorriso tão puro e sincero!
Me gustaría conseguir una reliquia de su Santidad el Papa Juan Pablo I. Le admiro profundamente y me parecería muy positivo traducir al español parte de sus escritos y discursos.
SANTITA' DOLCISSIMO,fin dal momento che ti ho conosciuto nel lontano 1978 sei rimasto nella mia vita! Non passa giorno che non pensi a te. TI prego veglia su di me, la mia famiglia,le mie due figlie,il mio matrimonio e su tutte le famiglie del mondo.TI VOGLIO BENE! QUALSIASI COSA ACCADRA'resterai sempre nel mio cuore. Per me sei gia' "SANTO" e questo e' fuori discussione. GRAZIE per essere "ESISTITO"!!!!!
Cher Albino,
Permets-moi de t'adresser ici ces quelques lignes et de les partager avec tous ceux qui se rendent sur cet espace qui t'est consacré. J'avais 16 ans quand au cours d'une fin d'après-midi du mois d'août 1978, tu es apparu au balcon du Vatican, arborant un sourire radieux mais aussi discret et humble, montrant ainsi au monde le visage d'un nouveau pape rempli de joie et d'émotion et sans doute un peu surpris d'avoir été choisi par ses pairs. Comme des millions de chrétiens, je me suis réjoui de voir le nouveau pape que tu étais sourire de la sorte et communiquer cette joie, cet enthousiasme, cette émotion à des millions de gens qui comptaient sur toi pour guider l'Eglise. Quelques semaines plus tard, au matin du 29 septembre, l'annonce de ton décès m'a bouleversé. Le soir , je passais d'une chaîne de télévision à l'autre afin de te revoir . Un membre de ma famille trouvait que j'exagérais et me fit une remarque peu amène. Alors je suis allé dans ma chambre pour pleurer. Et depuis ce jour-là, tu es à mes côtés. C'est d'ailleurs toi qui as préservé l'adolescent que j'étais de la "crise de foi" que bon nombre de jeunes connaissent. Mon grand-père maternel reçut un jour en cadeau ton livre : "Humblement vôtre"("Illustrissimi"). Bien vite cet ouvrage s'est retrouvé dans ma chambre, la couverture arrière tournée vers moi pour mieux contempler ton sourire.Je me suis aussi reconnu dans le personnage de Pinocchio que tu as si bien décrit.
Cher Albino, merci pour tout ce que tu as fait, ce que tu fais et ce que tu feras pour moi. Et merci surtout pour ce que tu as été et ce que tu es pour moi et des millions de gens qui ont vu en toi un véritable ami de Jésus, soucieux du bonheur des petits et des pauvres.
I find it hard to believe that you were so well, so healthy, so active, so alive, so humble, so loving, so king, so caring, yet so frail. 1 + 1 does not = 3!
You were a beautiful man born before your time, when utopia will reign and benevolence and honesty shall be deemed upright and worthy in society.
In the same way that you wrote letters to various people like Jesus Christ, St. Bernard and Dante, I too can imagine a letter between you and Plato. I feel that it would go something like this:
Plato: So the only way to reason with and govern society is to either acquiesce to its horrid nature, or to govern it with a pure and contrite spirit - a true philosopher?
JP I: Possibly, nay, probably. Although, Plato, it is important to remember that in the pantheistic world that you were conceived and raised in, man could not accept such people - look at the way that Socrates was treated, for example.
Plato: Indeed, a close friend and tutor. Yet, you were a man amongst wolves, devoured by those you had no choice but to trust, and you lived a life most akin to the Philosopher Rule. A healthy ascetic, most akin to that which I discussed in that famous book, yet one who channelled money to the right places, never kept money for yourself, and nearly removed those from office that neglected their moral responsibility.
JP I: Again, I cannot disagree. Therefore, my friend, what can be the state of man?
Plato: The state of man is constant, ever requiring to be pulled out of moral quagmires, ever desiring to fall back into them. Man needs a Philosopher Rule, but the main problem is that, because the Philosopher Ruler, like yourself, is beyond corruption, man will not see him as the perfect arbiter, as they should, but seeing true moral strength and true human weakness, the Philosopher Ruler works perfectly in theory but not at all in application. You were such a man, a true man worthy of the acceptance of Jesus Christ.
JP I: Of that, I cannot possibly comment. However, your succinct summary of society is right, yet wrong. Man can be evil, man can be bad and man can create the most horrid things in the mind. Yet man can also be the opposite. Man can be the epitome of all that is good. Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was indeed a man.
Plato: The most sacred and perfect Form - the Former of the Forms in retrospect. So society can be good but the hearts and minds of men have to genuflect towards that?
JP I: The Church's truths and Biblical truths shall never pass or fail. It is the conception of the acceptance that will determine whether society can become this theoretical Utopia. Heaven is the only guarantee - it is man's ultimate aim to ascertain such a crown of laurels - whether man accepts the divine path of enlightened and spiritual truth or whether he accepts the path of unrighteousness is each person's decision. It is that that guides our path and it is this that guides our life. We make the decisions and we walk the life.
Plato: As the Greeks sometimes say 'o odos estin bradius' - yet, the solution is quick.
Estoy muy contento de que recuerden al papa de la sonrisa, a pesar de que yo no lo conocí, pues nací en 1989, siento una gran admiración por Juan Pablo I, y deseo de todo Corazón de que su proceso de beatificación avance rápido y por el buen camino, y ojalá avance hacia una pronta canonización.
