Authors: David Yallop
The triple-decked, bee-hive-shaped tiara was superseded by the pallium, a white woollen stole around the Pope’s shoulders. The monarch had made way for the shepherd. The era of the poor Church had officially begun.
Among the twelve Heads of State and other representatives of their countries at the ceremony were men whom the Pope had been anxious to avoid meeting. In particular he had asked his Secretariat of State not to invite the leaders of Argentina, Chile and Paraguay to his inaugural Mass, but Cardinal Villot’s department had already sent out the invitations before checking with Albino Luciani. They had assumed there would be the traditional coronation and the invitation list reflected that assumption.
Consequently taking part in the Mass in St Peter’s Square were General Videla from Argentina, the Chilean Foreign Minister and the son of the President of Paraguay – representatives from countries where human rights were not considered pressing priorities. Italian protestors demonstrated against their presence and there were nearly 300 arrests. Later Albino Luciani would be criticized for the presence of such men at the Mass. The experts who criticized were unaware that the blame should be laid at Cardinal Villot’s door. When the critical comments appeared Luciani was in no position to respond and Villot remained silent.
At the private audience which followed the Mass, Luciani, the son of a Socialist who had abhorred all aspects of Fascism, left General Videla in no doubt that he had inherited his father’s views. He talked particularly of his concern over ‘Los Desaparecidos’, people who had vanished off the face of Argentinian earth in their thousands. By the conclusion of the 15-minute audience the General began to wish that he had heeded the eleventh-hour attempts of Vatican officials to dissuade him from coming to Rome.
The audience with Vice-President Mondale of the USA was a happier affair. Mondale gave the new Pope a book containing the front page of over fifty US newspapers recording Luciani’s election. A more thoughtful present was a first edition copy of Mark Twain’s
Life on the Mississippi.
Someone in the State Department had evidently done his homework.
Thus the Papacy of John Paul I began; a Papacy with clear aims and aspirations. Immediately Luciani set cats among a variety of Vatican
pigeons. Before the inaugural Mass he had addressed the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Vatican. His own diplomatic staff visibly blanched when he observed on behalf of the entire Roman Catholic Church:
We have no temporal goods to exchange, no economic interests to discuss. Our possibilities for intervention are specific and limited and of a special character. They do not interfere with purely temporal, technical and political affairs, which are matters for your government.
In this way, our diplomatic missions to your highest civil authorities, far from being a survival from the past, are a witness to our deep-seated respect for lawful temporal power, and to our lively interest in the humane causes that the temporal power is intended to advance.
‘We have no public goods to exchange . . .’ It was a public sentence of death upon Vatican Incorporated. All that remained uncertain was the number of days and months during which it would continue to function. The men of the international money markets of Milan, London, Tokyo, and New York pondered Luciani’s words with interest. If he really meant what he said then clearly there were going to be changes. Those changes would not be confined to the movement of people out of the Vatican Bank and the APSA, but would inevitably include a curtailment of a number of Vatican Incorporated’s activities. For the men in the world’s money markets there were billions to be made if they could correctly guess the direction this new Vatican philosophy would take. Albino Luciani wanted a poor Church for the poor. What did he plan to do with those who had created a wealthy Church? What did he plan to do with the wealth?
Luciani’s humility was responsible for the birth of several misconceptions. Many observers concluded that this demonstrably holy man was a simple, uncomplicated person who lacked the cultural talents of his predecessor, Paul VI. The reality was that Luciani had a far richer cultivation and a good deal more sophistication than Paul. His gifts were such that this extraordinary man could appear completely plebeian. His was a simplicity that is acquired only by a very few; a simplicity stemming from a deep wisdom.
One of the peculiarities of this age is that humility and gentleness are inevitably taken to be indications of some form of weakness. Frequently they indicate precisely the opposite, great strength.
When the new Pope remarked that he had been leafing through the Vatican Year Book to find out who did what, many in the Curia smirked and concluded that he would be a pushover, a man they could control. There were others who knew better.
Men who had known Albino Luciani over many years watched and waited. They knew the steel within; the strength to take difficult or unpopular decisions. Many spoke to me of these hidden attributes. Monsignor Tiziano Scalzotto, Father Mario Senigaglia, Monsignor Da Rif, Father Bartolomeo Sorge and Father Busa were just five of those who talked of the inner strength of Pope John Paul I. Father Busa observed:
His mind was as strong, as hard and as sharp as a diamond. That was where his real power was. He understood and had the ability to get to the centre of a problem. He could not be overwhelmed. When everyone was applauding the smiling Pope, I was waiting for him ‘tirare fuori le unghie’, to reveal his claws. He had tremendous power.
Without an entourage – no Venetian Mafia followed the Milan clique into the Papal Apartments – Albino Luciani would need every scrap of inner strength he could muster if he was to avoid becoming the prisoner of the Vatican Curia.
In the early days after the August Conclave the Vatican Government machine had not been idle. On Sunday, August 27th, after his noon speech to the crowds, Luciani lunched with Cardinal Jean Villot. As Pope Paul’s Secretary of State since April 1969, Villot had built a reputation for quiet competence. During the run-up to the Conclave Villot, as chamberlain, had virtually functioned as a caretaker Pope aided by his committees of cardinals. Luciani asked Villot to continue as Secretary of State for ‘a little while, until I have found my way’. Villot, 73 years of age, had been hoping that the moment had come when he might retire. In the event Luciani appointed Villot as his Secretary of State and reconfirmed all the Curial heads in their previous positions but the Curia were made aware that this was merely a temporary measure. Ever the prudent man of the mountains, the new Pope preferred to bide his time. ‘Deliberation. Decision. Execution.’ If the Curia wanted to know how their new Pope would act they had merely to read his letter to St Bernard. A great many did. They also did much deeper research on Pope John Paul I. What they discovered caused consternation in many Vatican departments and a deep pleasure of anticipation in others.
The death of Pope Paul VI brought bubbling to the surface many animosities that existed in the Vatican village. The Roman Curia, the central administrative body of the Church, had been engaging in internecine warfare for many years; only Paul’s expertise had kept the majority of the battles from public view. Now after the rebuff within the Conclave the Curial warfare reached the Papal Apartments. Albino Luciani complained bitterly about the situation to a number of friends who came to see him. ‘I want to learn quickly the trade of Pope but almost no one explains problems and situations in a thorough and detached manner. Most of the time I hear nothing but bad spoken about everything and everyone.’ To another friend from the north he observed: ‘I have noticed two things that appear to be in very short supply in the Vatican. Honesty and a good cup of coffee.’
There were as many Roman Curial factions as choirboys in the Sistine Chapel Choir. There was the Curia of Pope Paul VI committed to ensuring that the memory of the late Pope was constantly and continually honoured and also that there would be no deviation from the late Pope’s views, opinions and pronouncements.
There was the Curia which favoured Cardinal Giovanni Benelli and the Curia which wished he was in Hell. Pope Paul VI had made Benelli his Under-Secretary of State, number two to Cardinal Villot. He rapidly became the Pope’s muscle, ensuring that policy was adhered to. Paul had moved him to Florence and promoted him in order to protect him during Paul’s last years. Now his protector was dead but the long knives remained sheathed. Luciani was Pope because of men like Benelli.
There were Curial factions which favoured or opposed Cardinals Baggio, Felici, and Bertoli. There were Curia factions wanting more central power and control, others wanting less.
Throughout his life Albino Luciani had avoided visits to the Vatican. He had kept his contact with the Roman Curia to a minimum. As a result, before his election, he probably had fewer Curial enemies than any other cardinal. It was a situation which quickly changed. Here was a Pope who considered ‘mere execution’ as the basic function of the Curia. He believed in greater power-sharing with the bishops throughout the world and planned to decentralize the Vatican structure. By refusing to be crowned he had distressed the traditionalists. Another innovation hardly likely to endear Luciani to the more materially-minded members of the Curia was his instruction that the extra month’s salary paid automatically upon the election of a new Pope should be cut by half.
Obviously there were many within the 3,000 or so members of the Curia who would loyally serve and love the new Pope; but the way of the world is to ensure that negative forces often predominate. As soon as the result of the election was known the Curia, or certain sections of it swung into action. Within hours a special edition of
L’Osservatore Romano
was available with a full biography of the new Pope. Vatican Radio was already broadcasting similar details.
As an example of how to influence the world’s thinking about a hitherto unknown leader,
L’Osservatore Romano’s
treatment of Albino Luciani is definitive. Because it deliberately portrayed a person who existed only in the reactionary, oppressive mind of whoever wrote the biographical details, this particular edition of
L’Osservatore Romano
is also an excellent example of why the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper has been compared unfavourably with
Pravda.
Using the ‘official facts’, many journalists fighting deadlines filed copy which portrayed a man who did not exist.
The Economist,
to take one of several hundred examples, said of the new Pope, ‘He would not be much at home in the company of Dr Hans Kung.’ Research would have revealed that Luciani and Hans Kung had exchanged very friendly letters as well as sending one another books. Further research would have shown that Luciani had several times quoted Kung favourably in his sermons. Virtually every newspaper and periodical in the world that carried profiles of the new Pope made similar totally erroneous assertions.
To read the special edition of
L’Osservatore Romano
is to read of a new Pope who was even more conservative than Pope Paul VI. The distortion covered a wide range of Luciani’s views but one in particular is highly relevant when considering the life and death of Albino Luciani: birth control.
The Vatican newspaper described a man who was an intrepid and unquestioning supporter of
Humanae Vitae.
He made a meticulous study of the subject of responsible parenthood and engaged in consultations and talks with medical specialists and theologians. He warned of the grave responsibility of the Church (the ecclesiastical Magisterium) in pronouncing on such a delicate and controversial question.
That was entirely accurate and truthful. What followed was completely inaccurate.
With the publication of the Encyclical
Humanae Vitae
there could be no room for doubt, and the Bishop of Vittorio Veneto was among the first to circulate it, and to insist with those who were perplexed by the document, that its teaching was beyond question.
When the Curia moves it is a formidable machine. Its efficiency and speed would make other Civil Services breathless. Men from the Roman Curia appeared at the Gregorian College and removed all notes and papers that referred to Luciani’s period of study for his degree. Other members of the Curia went to Venice, Vittorio Veneto, Belluno. Wherever Luciani had been the Curia went. All copies of the Luciani document on birth control were seized and immediately placed in the Vatican’s Secret Archives along with his thesis on Rosmini and a large quantity of other writings. It could be said that the beatification process for Albino Luciani began the day he was elected Pope. It would be equally accurate to observe that the Curial cover-up of the real Albino Luciani began the same day.
What certain sections of the Curia had realized with a profound shock was that in electing Albino Luciani, the cardinals had given them a man who would not let the issue of birth control rest with
Humanae Vitae.
Careful study by members of the Curia of what Luciani had actually said, not only to his parishioners in public but to his friends and colleagues in private, quickly established that the new Pope favoured artificial birth control. The inaccurate and false picture
L’Osservatore Romano
painted of a man who rigorously applied the principles
of Humanae Vitae
was the opening shot in a counter-attack designed to hem Albino Luciani inside the strictures of his predecessor’s encyclical. It was quickly followed by another blast.