Pope St. John XXIII, the Man and the Narrative

In honor of his canonization, I thought I would give some thoughts on the lesser known of the two Popes canonized yesterday.

Pope St. John XXIII gets an interesting rep today. To some he is seen as the father of modernism, the one who wanted to destroy the church, an antithetical contradiction from the heaven sent prior popes. He is the one who called the Second Vatican Council, hoping to rid the Church of every possible tradition, a lover of novelty, who would have Her now consumed in modernity.

To others he is the pope who opened wide the doors of the church letting in fresh air, driving into the past the "ghetto" of a church isolated from the rest of the world. He updated a church desperately left in the medieval ages, whose relevancy had long died away. He was the primal architect who wanted a new and free Mass, that would relate to the man of the 20th and 21st centuries.

I know little of this saintly Pope. But from my brief readings of his writings, I have come to find that he is neither of the two personalities above. Surely he believed in 1962, that where the Church presently stood could have been improved. And surely he was right in his understanding that the world had changed tremendously, and was evolving at terrific and increasing speed. The world in 1962 was nothing like the world of 1870, when the Fist Vatican Council was called.

But Pope St. John XXIII was by no means a devoted modernist as thought of today. He was a lover of latin, as seen in his little known encyclical promoting the study of latin, Veterum Sapientia. He had a devotion to Pope St. Pius X, a pope loved by most traditional Catholics. He did not refuse the use of the sedia gestatoria(gestatorial chair, as pictured below) or the papal tiara. But above these, his intentions in calling the Second Vatican Council is what brings a true understanding to the opinions and feelings of Pope St. John. Below is a quote from his opening speech of the Council:

(The Council must present)"the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers and transmit that doctrine pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion, which throughout twenty centuries, not withstanding difficulties and constraints, has become the common patrimony of men. It is a patrimony not well received by all, but always a rich treasure available to men of good will. The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this, that the Sacred Deposit of Christian Doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously [with a] renewed, serene, and tranquil adherence to all the teachings of the Church in their entirety and preciseness, as they still shine forth in the acts of the council of Trent and the First Vatican Council."

When we see that the Pope desired the Council to be an integral part of tradition, most especially siting the Councils of Trent and Vatican I, promptly the modern notions of Vatican II totally revamping the Church and what She taught, fall away. Whether the Second Vatican Council correctly addressed the modern era is for many different posts, but suffice it to say, that St. John XXIII, was a Pope and a man separate from the outcomes of Vatican II. Today the person of Pope St. John XXIII is colored by most catholics solely on their understanding and opinion of Vatican II, of whom they see this Saint to be a personification of.

The canonization of John XXIII has been a bit overshadowed by John Paul II, who is himself a great saint who worked wonders for the church. But because of JP II's rightful prestige, the Good Pope John has has been partially eclipsed. I pray that now in his Sainthood, the life and personage of Pope St. John XXIII will be embraced, and that inquiry into his true person will overcome the current trend of the unconscious fusion Pope St. John and the Second Vatican Council. Let us pray to both of these Saint Popes for their continual intercession.

Over at The New Liturgical Movement Blog(the link to their site is in my blog roll) they have been posting some wonderful stuff in an attempt to inform as to the true nature of the Pope St. John XXIII, I highly recommend it.

For the truest look into his life, he wrote an autobiography titled 'Journal of a Soul'. I hope to pick it up soon.

Pope St. John XXIII, ora pro nobis.