Pope John Paul I sainthood cause moves forward

Pope John Paul I, the "smiling pope," is pictured at the Vatican in 1978. He was elected Aug. 26, 1978, and served one of the shortest papacies -- 34 days. He died of a heart attack Sept. 28 the year of his election.

Promoters of the sainthood cause of Pope John Paul I, who served as head of the church for just over a month, met Pope Benedict XVI Sept. 26 to bring him up to date on their work.

Bishop Giuseppe Andrich of Belluno and Feltre, Italy, the diocese in which the late pope was born, and Bishop Enrico Dal Covolo, the postulator — or official promoter — of the cause, said major documentation on Pope John Paul’s life and ministry would be submitted formally to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes Oct. 17, the 100th anniversary of the late pope’s birth.

The documentation, called a “positio” or position paper, includes a biography, an analysis of the candidate’s writings and summaries of testimony offered by people who knew him. A “positio” usually runs to several thousand pages.

Bishop Dal Covolo, rector of Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, told the Vatican newspaper, “what is most captivating today” about the figure of Pope John Paul is that he was “a good shepherd who gave his life for his people.”

Bishop Andrich said people devoted to the late pope remember him for his “traits of humility and simplicity.” [more]

SOURCE

CNS