Blessed Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani)

Life

Albino Luciani was born on 17 October 1912 in Forno di Canale (today Canale d'Agordo), a poor mountain village in the Dolomites of northern Italy. The eldest son of a migrant socialist bricklayer, he grew up in real hardship, and that experience shaped a lifelong simplicity that would later astonish the Roman Curia.

Ordained priest in 1935, he served as a parish curate, seminary professor and vice-rector before being named Bishop of Vittorio Veneto by Pope John XXIII in 1958 and Patriarch of Venice by Pope Paul VI in 1969. He was created a cardinal in 1973. As bishop and patriarch he was known for his catechetical gift - the book Illustrissimi, a series of letters to historical and fictional figures, revealed both his learning and his disarming warmth.

Elected to the papacy on 26 August 1978 after one of the shortest conclaves of the twentieth century, he chose the unprecedented double name 'John Paul' to honour his two immediate predecessors. He was the first pope to refuse the formal coronation, asking instead for a simple inauguration Mass, and the first to speak of God in the maternal as well as paternal mode - 'God is our Father; even more, God is our Mother' (10 September 1978).

His warm smile, plain Italian and short catecheses on faith, hope and charity won him the affectionate Italian title Il Papa del sorriso - 'the Pope of the smile'. He used the royal 'we' only when strictly required, walking and speaking like a parish priest.

On the night of 28 September 1978, only 33 days after his election, he was found dead in his bed of an apparent heart attack, having complained of chest pains the previous evening. He was 65 years old. After decades of careful investigation, Pope Francis beatified him in Saint Peter's Square on 4 September 2022, after recognising as miraculous the healing of an 11-year-old girl in Buenos Aires from a severe inflammatory encephalopathy. His feast is celebrated on 26 August, the date of his papal election.