Foundation receives personal writings of Pope John Paul I

The John Paul I Vatican Foundation announced the recovery of a collection of the late pope’s writings.

In a statement released by the Vatican April 28, Archbishop Francesco Moraglia of Venice said the personal archives of his predecessor, then-Cardinal Albino Luciani, are a testament to the late pontiff’s humility as “a meek and brave worker in the vineyard of the Lord.”

“I hope the foundation will always undertake the work of spreading his religious and cultural heritage so that we may know better the beautiful ‘surprise’ that God wanted to reserve, one day, for his church and the world by placing Albino Luciani on the chair of St. Peter,” Archbishop Moraglia wrote.

Pope John Paul I served only 33 days as pope. He died in 1978 at the age of 65, shocking the world and a church that had just mourned the death of St. Paul VI.

The foundation, established in 2020 by Pope Francis, was set up to sponsor a variety of initiatives, including conventions, meetings, seminars and study sessions. It also is expected to publish research and be a point of reference throughout the world for people who wish to further their studies on Pope John Paul I.

Italian journalist Stefania Falasca, a member of the foundation’s administrative board and vice postulator of the late pope’s sainthood cause, said the writings — dated from 1929 to 1978 — are a “very rich collection of diverse documentation spanning 50 years, made up of papers including handwritten pieces, notebooks, diaries, printed and photographic material and correspondence.”

“The scope of these papers, which is mainly characterized as a personal file, largely includes interventions, lectures, conferences, homilies, articles and publications,” she said.

Among the writings, which are expected to be digitized, was the pope’s 1978 personal agenda that include notes written by John Paul I for his Sunday Angelus addresses and weekly audiences.

Archbishop Moraglia said the archives show that even after his election, Pope John Paul I’s “priority and attention went to the proclamation of the Gospel without ever leaving it in ‘second place’ or trivializing it.”

John Paul I, he said, served a church that was “wounded and fragile without yielding to the temptation of gaining notoriety but instead took on his personal responsibility and suffering.”


Photo: Pope John Paul I, who served as pope for 33 days in 1978, is seen in this photo released by the Vatican Dec. 7, 2010, to highlight the restoration of its photo archive. In an April 28 statement, the John Paul I Vatican Foundation announced the recovery of a collection of the late pope's writings. CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano.