Blessed John XXIII: Cardinal Loris Capovilla and the canonisation

(Vatican Radio) - Cardinal Loris Capovilla was for many years the personal secretary of John XXIII and recently wrote how this twentieth century Pope rather than arouse in us feelings of nostalgia should encourage us to look towards the future..

Fabio Colagrande asked him what he meant by that comment. The cardinal replied that as Pope John once said we are not called to be custodians of a shrine, a reliquary or a museum but rather to be custodians of a garden where is sown the seed of the Word , of the Word Incarnate. In fact he went on to say, we are called to cultivate our garden, to foster the advent of a new Pentecost, a new Easter, a new Spring, not just for our personal joy but for the joy of all of humanity.


The encyclical of Pope Francis, 'Evangelii Gaudium’ is good news but what is this good news? It is that I am a son of God and God does not abandon me. How wonderful it is to hear our present pope say every day or almost every day : ‘Jesus rejects nobody, he waits for every one of us to come to Him”.

Fabio Colagrande also asked the Cardinal to share with us his memories of working with John XXIII. Surprisingly he replied that he never considered himself as a collaborator but as a little servant among many others who saw in the Pope someone sent by God. " I never felt", he reiterated, " that I was collaborator or a secretary and still less an advisor, I would have perceived this as a scandalous assumption".

What I did experience however was the joy that came with being close to a man who was certainly guided by God and who set the seed for the future of the Church although I could not grasp to the full what was in his soul: as I said he set the seed for the future.

Finally asked what the day of the canonisation represents for him who shared so much with John XXIII, Cardinal Capovilla rather surprisingly replied that for him it would be a day like any other in the calendar. Because for Christians all the days in the calendar are festive and represent a reason to celebrate. For he who believes he insisted, it’s always Easter, always the Resurrection. Just to look to the heavens, or to beat one’s breast after having received the Eucharist is a great gift, a precious treasure, a great mystery of grace and light. For us it’s always time to celebrate…

A programme produced by Veronica Scarisbrick: