Angelo Roncalli (1888-1963) was a peasant from the Lombardy region of Italy, the fourth of 14 children. He was ordained a priest in 1904 and served his bishop as secretary for ten years. Then he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps. He served as the Vatican's representative in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey during World War II, in France, then was appointed Patriarch of Venice and named a cardinal by Pope Pius XII in 1953. When Pius died in 1958 after a long illness, there was no clear successor. The generally thought successor, Giovinni Baptista Montini, the archbishop of Milan, (and future Pope Paul VI) was not a cardinal. The 48 cardinals in the conclave elected the 78-year old Roncalli as a "place-sitter," until (they thought) a more worthy and deserving man became pope. He took the name "John" which had not been used in over 400 years. But Roncalli shocked the church and the world when, only three months into his pontificate, he called for a worldwide council of bishops, the first in almost 100 years. His sense of humor and humility led the people to acclaim him "Good Pope John." John was known for his saying, "See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little." He lived to see the first (of four) sessions of the Second Vatican Council, in the fall of 1962. Pope John XXIII died of stomach cancer on June 3, 1963.
Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) grew up in Poland amid much sadness. His mother died in childbirth when he was 8, his father when he was 18. His two older siblings died before he was 20. Wojtyla was a brilliant student, and was an actor, a published poet and playwright. He lived under the specter of the two horrific political systems of the 20th century--Nazi Fascism and Soviet Communism. He was trained as a priest in the archbishop of Krakow's "underground seminary," and was ordained a priest in 1946. He was named a bishop at 38, archbishop of Krakow at 44, a cardinal at 47. He earned two doctoral degrees, and was fluent in at least six languages. He attended all four sessions of Vatican II, and participated in the 1978 conclave which elected Cardinal Albino Luciani as Pope John Paul I. But when Luciani died of a heart attack after only 34 days in office as pope, the cardinals elected as pope the first non-Italian in 455 years, the youthful vigorous Wojtyla from Poland.
Though he probably would have preferred to take the name of the Polish bishop-martyr Stanislaus as his namesake, he showed his continuity with his predecessors by taking the name John Paul II. From his first talk after his election, John Paul II made history, with world-wide travels, voluminous writings, charisma, outreach to Jews, and effect on world history. (He is rightly credited with helping to bring down the Iron Curtain and Soviet Communism by his support for the Polish labor union Solidarity.) From his first encyclical, he was known for his complete trust in God, his saying "Be not afraid," and his great devotion to Mary, Mother of God. His pilgrimages to over 100 countries allowed him to be seen in person, it is said, by more than a billion human beings. After quietly suffering from Parkinson's disease for decades, he died in 2005, the second longest serving pope ever. At his funeral more than two million people passed by his coffin, crying out "sancto subito," (Italian for "make him a saint now").
We the church rejoice at these two new saints, both "servants of the servant of God" in their ministry as popes. Yet both point us in the same direction, holiness. Each of us is to follow our own vocation, whatever it may be, as disciples of Jesus Christ, with love and energy and prayer, carrying out the will of God.
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