Today’s saint is one of a very small handful of persons whose lifespans have intersected mine and who have also been canonized during my life–Pope John XXIII. He died in 1963, and as I was not raised a Catholic, I did not know much about him until college, when I first read (in English) his amazing, astounding, eye-opening, life-changing encyclical, Pacem in Terris (“Peace on Earth”). For those who do not know, an encyclical is an “official letter” sent from the pope to all bishops throughout the world.
John (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) was elected pope at age 76 (on the eleventh ballot) and, not unlike Benedict XVI, was expected to be little more than a “caretaker pope”–one who would live for a little while, not rock the boat, help stabilize the Church, then leave the stage for a more significant personage to assume the pontificate. And it is true that John lived and served for fewer than five years as pope, dying of stomach cancer in 1963.
Yet John was anything but a caretaker pope! He called together an international church council (including numerous non-Catholic observers) that became known as “Vatican II.” For many, this marked the first true breath of Holy Spirit to sweep into the Church in centuries; for others, it marked nothing short of horror! To begin with, this Council removed the requirement that masses be held in Latin (which no one spoke as a native language) and encouraged that all church activities (including masses) be performed in the predominant language of each worshipping community! Then, this Council opened up the idea of cooperation among Christians–whether or not they adhered to Catholicism or regarded the Pope as their spiritual authority! And with non-Christians! Oh–women (religious and lay) were also incorporated as observer-participants in this Council! [Vatican II proved so revolutionary, that the aforementioned, and ultra-conservative, Benedict XVI made a point of stating that NOTHING that happened at Vatican II invalidated anything about the pre-Council Church.]
Moreover, approximately two months before his death, John completed his powerfully and still-resonant Pacem in Terris encyclical. In this work, John–writing as the earthly representative of Christ entrusted with leading the Catholic Church–directly uplifted the full and equal humanity and dignity of all persons throughout the world: Muslim to be respected as much as Christian, woman as equal in all human rights as male, the poor and oppressed to be treated with dignity equal to that of the wealthy and powerful.
In this encyclical, John makes one very important point in a multitude of ways: where a person is born can never be a reason for anyone to:
- Discriminate against that person–whether the discriminator is part of that person’s same country or of another country.
- Forbid that person entry into one’s country if that person is being attacked or oppressed in her or his country of birth.
- Care less about that person’s well-being than the well being of one’s own country’s citizens.
In other words: John lays it out for us all no one may use another’s accidents of birth–where one happens to be born, how wealthy one happens to be born, what religion one is born into–to treat that person as less, to justify withholding resources or refuge to, or to ignore the plight of.
Nothing short of this will bring “peace on earth.”
Read the encyclical (linked here again in blue). Do keep in mind that it was written in 1963 (over 50 years ago) and predates even more progressive ideas that John XXIII would undoubtedly have embraced, and that it was addressed specifically to (male) bishops worldwide. Take to heart this saint’s message.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God
-Matthew 5:9 (KJV)