Pope John Paul I will be beatified this Sunday, September 4, 2022, in a Mass to be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Square in Rome. KTO invites us to follow the celebration live on ktotv.com, or on the digital platforms YouTube or Facebook.

Source - ktotv.com

Pope Francis will preside at the Mass of beatification Sunday morning. A time of prayer will be scheduled for the day before, and a Mass of thanksgiving will be celebrated the following Sunday in the Italian-born Pope's hometown of Canale d'Agordo in the region of Veneto.

John Paul I, "The Smiling Pope"

Albino Luciani was born October 12, 1912, in the village of Forno di Canale, since renamed Canale d'Argodo. He studied at the minor seminary of Feltre, the major seminary of Belluno and, lastly, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received a doctorate in theology. He was ordained a priest July 7, 1935. Appointed Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958, he took part in the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. In 1969, he became Patriarch of Venice and was later created Cardinal by Pope Paul VI during the Consistory of March 5, 1973.

Following the death of Paul VI, on the first day of the conclave and after the fourth ballot, he was elected Pope on August 26, 1978, at the age of 65. He accepted his election saying: "tempesta magna est super me" (a great storm is upon me). John Paul I became the 263rd Pope, the first to bear a double name. After a reign of 33 days, he died during the night of September 28 – 29 of a heart attack.

A brief pontificate

His pontificate was astonishing for its singular brevity. Known as “the Good Pope” or "the Smiling Pope," he was the last pontiff of Italian origin. At the 30th anniversary of his death on September 28, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI honoured him, saying: "humility may be considered his spiritual legacy." As Pope John Paul I, he chose the episcopal motto of St. Charles Borromeo: "Humilitas." Catholics were touched by the simplicity with which he dropped certain elements of the elaborate pomp, such as wearing the papal tiara. In tribute to him, his successor took the same name, becoming John Paul II.

Opening the case of beatification

The beatification process for John Paul I began in 1990, but the decree establishing his life of heroic virtue was not sanctioned by Pope Francis until November 9, 2017.

On October 13, 2021, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to publish the decree recognizing a miracle that had been attributed to the intercession of John Paul I. The miracle took place July 23, 2011, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An eleven-year-old girl hospitalized with a life-threatening condition was healed after the parish priest encouraged her family to pray to John Paul I, in which they were joined by the hospital staff.

John Paul I will join the other recently beatified or canonized pontiffs, Paul VI (1963-1978), canonized October 14, 2018, and John XXIII (1958-1963) and John Paul II (1978-2005), both of whom were canonized April 27, 2014