John Paul I’s beatification cause may advance, cardinal says
A document advancing the beatification of John Paul I is ready, and will be given to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints this autumn, according to the emeritus Secretary of State.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone announced the milestone during his homily at Mass in the Belluno cathedral July 20.
The beatification process of John Paul I had been slowed because the “positio” had not been completed. The positio is the document that the postulator prepares, presenting the “pros” and “cons” of a person’s possible beatification.
After the positio is submitted, theologian consultants to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the Promoter of Faith, will vote on whether to approve the document for further consideration.
If they approve, the members of the congregation then will give their response. If they too approve, the cause for beatification will be referred to Pope Francis for approval.
John Paul I was born in the Diocese of Belluno and Feltre in 1912, as Albino Luciani. He was ordained a priest of the diocese in 1935, at the age of 22, and was appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958. He then served as Patriarch of Venice from 1969 until his election as Bishop of Rome in 1978.
After the positio is submitted, theologian consultants to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the Promoter of Faith, will vote on whether to approve the document for further consideration.
If they approve, the members of the congregation then will give their response. If they too approve, the cause for beatification will be referred to Pope Francis for approval.
John Paul I was born in the Diocese of Belluno and Feltre in 1912, as Albino Luciani. He was ordained a priest of the diocese in 1935, at the age of 22, and was appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958. He then served as Patriarch of Venice from 1969 until his election as Bishop of Rome in 1978.
He served as Pope for 33 days before his death, presumably of a heart attack.
Shortly after his death, requests to begin his beatification process came from many parts of the world. These requests were formalized in 1990, with a document signed by 226 Brazilian bishops.
The diocesan phase of the investigation, held in Belluno, was opened in 2003 and closed in 2006. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the documents of the diocesan investigation in 2008
Shortly after his death, requests to begin his beatification process came from many parts of the world. These requests were formalized in 1990, with a document signed by 226 Brazilian bishops.
The diocesan phase of the investigation, held in Belluno, was opened in 2003 and closed in 2006. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the documents of the diocesan investigation in 2008
A miracle has already been attributed to the intercession of John Paul I: the 1992 healing of Giuseppe Denora, from the Diocese of Altamura-Gravina-Acquaviva delle Fonti. Denora was suddenly healed from a malignant tumor in the stomach after seeking the late Pope’s intercession.
However, the reputed miracle still awaits the approval of both the council of doctors and the council of theologians who work for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
St. John Paul II declared his predecessor a Servant of God on Nov. 23, 2003. If his cause advances, he wil next be named “Venerable.”
Luciani’s positio was expected to have been prepared for the centenary of his birth, but was delayed until now because members of the team advocating for his cause wanted to double-check all of the document.
In 2012, the postulator of the cause, Bishop Enrico dal Covolo, rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, had submitted instead the witnesses’ summary, the first of the four documents which make up a positio.
Luciani’s positio was expected to have been prepared for the centenary of his birth, but was delayed until now because members of the team advocating for his cause wanted to double-check all of the document.
In 2012, the postulator of the cause, Bishop Enrico dal Covolo, rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, had submitted instead the witnesses’ summary, the first of the four documents which make up a positio.
John Paul I’s beatification process is very close to Cardinal Bertone’s heart. The beatification cause had been promoted in 2002 by the cardinal’s close friend and fellow Salesian, Bishop Vincenzo Savio of Belluno-Feltre.
Bishop Savio died in 2004. Since then, fame of his own sanctity has spread to the degree that many have requested the opening of his canonization process.
“We will have to wait for something more for him,” Cardinal Bertone said to CNA
Pope John Paul I conspiracy theories
Pope John Paul I died in September 1978 only a month (just 33 days) after his election. The suddenness of the death, together with the Vatican’s difficulties with the ceremonial and legal death procedures (such as issuing a legitimate death certificate), have resulted in several conspiracy theories.
Discrepancies in the Vatican’s account of the events surrounding John Paul I’s death — its inaccurate statements about who found the body, what he had been reading, when and where and whether an autopsy could be carried out – produced a number of conspiracy theories, many associated with the Vatican Bank, which owned many shares in Banco Ambrosiano.
Some conspiracy theorists connect the death of John Paul (in September 1978) with the image of the “bishop dressed in white” said to have been seen by Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto during the visitations of Our Lady of Fátima in 1917. In a letter to a colleague, John Paul had said he was deeply moved by having met Lucia and vowed to perform the Consecration of Russia in accordance with her vision.
There are several populist conspiracy theories that have not been formally turned into manuscripts. Chief among these is one popular with Franciscans in Rome that alleges that the paper found in his hand was a copy of his sermon to be given the next day (he died on a Saturday night, the body was found Sunday morning). In it he allegedly discussed the fact that the Old Testament Yahweh has been universally personified as a father figure, yet there is nothing to prevent an interpretation of Yahweh as a mother figure, a la “earth religions”. He then supposedly went on to give several examples of Old Testament events that made much more sense seeing God as Mother rather than Father. The theory also states that a copy of St. John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul was open on his bedstand.
Conspiracy
David Yallop’s 1984 book In God’s Name proposed the theory that the pope was in “potential danger” because of corruption in the Istituto per le Opere Religiose (IOR, Institute of Religious Works, the Vatican’s most powerful financial institution, commonly known as the Vatican Bank), which owned many shares in Banco Ambrosiano. The Vatican Bank lost about a quarter of a billion dollars.
This corruption was real and is known to have involved the bank’s head, Paul Marcinkus, along with Roberto Calvi of the Banco Ambrosiano. Calvi was a member of P2, an illegal Italian Masonic lodge. Calvi was found dead in London in 1982, after disappearing just before the corruption became public. His death was initially ruled suicide, and a second inquest ordered by his family then returned an “open verdict”.
Upon publication of his book, Yallop agreed to donate every penny he made from sales to a charity of the Vatican’s choice if they agreed to investigate his central claim, that when the body of the pope was discovered, his contorted hand gripped a piece of paper that was later destroyed because it named high-ranking members of the curia who were Freemasons and others who had a role in numerous corruption scandals and the laundering of mafia drug money. One of the names believed to be on the paper was that of bishop Paul Marcinkus, who was later promoted by Pope John Paul II to Pro-President of Vatican City, making him the third most powerful person in the Vatican, after the pope and the secretary of state. None of Yallop’s claims, which are unproven, has thus far been acknowledged by the Vatican, although Yallop disclosed the Masonic Lodge numbers of the Curia members whom he alleged to be Freemasons in his book (it is forbidden by Church law for a Roman Catholic to be a Freemason)
Abbé Georges de Nantes
Traditionalist theologian Abbé Georges de Nantes spent much of his life building a case for murder against the Vatican, collecting statements from people who knew the Pope before and after his election. His writings go into detail about the banks and about John Paul I’s supposed discovery of a number of Freemason priests in the Vatican, along with a number of his proposed reforms and devotion to Fátima.
Traditional Latin Mass
Catholic Traditionalist Movement, founded by Fr. DePauw, indicates he was to have gone to Rome to help John Paul I reestablish the Tridentine Mass.
[Fr. DePauw] stated on the 15th anniversary of the Pope’s death: “Well, I tell you one thing, if he had remained Pope, you wouldn’t have me here at the Chapel because with that beautiful official letter signed by the Secretary of State, also came an unofficial message that I better start packing my suitcase, that there was a job waiting for me in Rome, in the Vatican, to help Pope John Paul I bring the Truth back to the Church. Well, it wasn’t to be and the Lord, Who knows what He does, obviously wanted me to be in this Chapel … what was I going to do in Rome? Well let’s just forget it …”
Other prominent Traditionalist Catholic websites, not related to CTM, have suggested John Paul I may have been assassinated to prevent restoration of the Tridentine Mass.
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