Status: 04.09.2022 1:10 p.m
John Paul I died just 33 days after his appointment, making him one of the shortest-serving popes. Pope Francis has now beatified him. This required a miracle recognized by the Vatican.
John Paul I, who went down in history as the 33-day Pope, has been beatified. Pope Francis included him in the canon of the blessed in a solemn ceremony on St. Peter’s Square according to the Catholic rite. His memorial day is August 26th.
The tapestry depicting the late Pope John Paul I hangs on the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Beatification Mass conducted by Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Image: dpa
As a thunderstorm broke over Rome, a portrait of John Paul I was unveiled on the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica. He had died unexpectedly almost 44 years earlier, just over a month after the beginning of his pontificate. As a result of his beatification, John Paul I can now be publicly venerated in certain regions.
The beatification process started in 2017
In order to be beatified in the Catholic Church, candidates must meet several requirements, which are examined in a kind of procedure. This was opened in 2003 in the home diocese of John Paul I – Belluno-Feltre. The process lasted 14 years and was completed in 2017. What was still missing for beatification, however, was a miracle.
Finally, in October 2021, Pope Francis recognized an event according to the Catholic faith as such a miracle, said to have happened through the intercession of John Paul I. Specifically, it was about a case of an eleven-year-old girl who was allegedly terminally ill. The child is said to have recovered ten years earlier in Buenos Aires because a priest is said to have prayed to John Paul I.
Such an event, recognized as a miracle by the Vatican, is the final requirement for beatification in the Catholic Church. A canonization can follow a beatification.
He died at the age of 65
John Paul I was the pre-predecessor of Francis. He was born Albino Luciani on October 17, 1912 in a northern Italian village in the Dolomites. In 1958 he became a bishop, later attended the Second Vatican Council and became a cardinal in 1973.
After the death of Pope Paul VI. the conclave elected him the new pope in August 1978 after a day of deliberations. On September 28, he died after only 33 days at the age of 65. He was one of the shortest-serving popes. The short-term pontiff is also known as the “Pope of Smiles” in Italy. His successor was the Pole Karol Wojtyla, who called himself John Paul II.
Medical evidence points to heart attack as the cause of death
There had always been speculation about the circumstances of John Paul I’s death. At a press conference this week, Stefania Falasca, who documented the process of beatification as a so-called vice-postulator, emphasized that all the documents and medical certificates pointed to a heart attack.