For the beatification of Albino Luciani, the miracle was approved through the intercession of Candela Giarda, a girl from Paraná (Argentina) who in 2011 when she was 11 years old was on the verge of death due to “severe acute inflammatory encephalopathy, refractory epileptic disease malignant and septic shock. Her mother Roxana Sosa prayed to the deceased pontiff as an Argentine priest told her and the next day she was already improving.
Candela and her mother Roxana were going to be present in Rome to thank Pope John Paul II for “her second life” but she was unable to travel due to a broken foot.
The smiling pope, as he was known, was elected on August 26, 1978 and was found dead in his bed on the morning of September 29 at the age of 65, making his pontificate one of the shortest of History and also became the last Italian so far.
FRANCIS: ALBINO LUCIANI WAS “A GENTLE AND HUMBLE SHEPHERD”
“Brothers, sisters, the new blessed lived in this way: with the joy of the Gospel, without concessions, loving to the extreme. He embodied the poverty of the disciple, which does not only imply parting with material goods, but above all overcoming the temptation to put one’s self at the center and seek one’s own glory,” Pope Francis said in his homily during his beatification. .
Francis stressed that the new blessed “on the contrary, following the example of Jesus, was a gentle and humble shepherd. He considered himself as the dust on which God had deigned to write and therefore, he said: “The Lord has recommended us so much that we be humble! Even if you have done great things, say: useless servants we are.
“With his smile, Pope Luciani managed to convey the goodness of the Lord. It is beautiful a Church with a cheerful, serene and smiling face, that never closes its doors, that does not harden hearts, that does not complain or harbor resentments, that is not angry or impatient, that does not appear harsh or suffer because of nostalgia for the past,” the pope added.
A BEATIFICATION PROCESS THAT RESTORES THE TRUTH
During these years numerous books have been written about the terrible communication about his death that gave rise to numerous theories and legends and different hypotheses such as the one that he was poisoned to avoid his fight against financial corruption.
Vice-postulator Stefania Falasca, who has dedicated more than six years to gathering the documentation, assured that all the medical reports, all the clinical documentation and the records prove that it was an unexpected death due to a heart attack and that an emergency was not considered necessary. autopsy because nothing indicated that it was not a natural death and that the process “restored a historical truth”
Sister Margherita, 81, the only living nun caring for the pope, explained to the Vatican media “the great pain” that Luciani’s last vision caused her: “lying in bed, with the lights on and a sheet of paper between the fingers, glasses and smiling”.
“The heart attack was sudden,” recalls Sister Margherita, who, when faced with the reason for so much speculation about a death, replied: “Ah, well, because there is always the hand of the devil!”.
JOHN PAUL I, SIXTH BLESSED POPE
The ceremony, which was held under a strong storm, was presided over by the pope, but the mass was celebrated by Marcelo Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints, due to Francisco’s mobility problems. It began with the biography and request by Renato Marangoni, bishop of Belluno-Feltre, Luciani’s birthplace, to inscribe John Paul I in the book of the blessed.
Francis accepted the request and added that “John Paul I, pope, henceforth be called blessed and that he be celebrated every year in the places and according to what is established by law, on August 26.”
Later, the relic of John Paul I was brought to the altar, which in this case was something unprecedented because it consists of a note written on white paper from 1956 by Luciani that consisted of “a scheme of spiritual reflection on the three theological virtues -faith, hope and charity” that was among his notes.
John Paul I will be the sixth pope of the 20th century included in the book of blessed, while to be canonized, proclaimed a saint, a new miracle will need to be approved.
Four popes of the last century have already been canonized: Pius X (1903-1914), John XXIII (1958-1963), Paul VI (1963-1978) and John Paul II (1978-2005). Pope Francis personally canonized John XXIII and John Paul II in 2014, before beatifying Paul VI in the same year and then canonizing him in 2018.
The entrance John Paul I, the 33-day pope, was proclaimed blessed today was first published in diary TODAY.
