Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
- John XXIII, Pope, 1881-1963
Other form(s) of name
- Pope John XXIII
- Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli
- Roncalli, Angelo Giuseppe
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Italian-born Angelo Guiseppe Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope in 1958 taking the name Pope John XXIII. Seen as a transitory pope because he was in his late seventies, he initiated the Second Vatican Council, ushering in the most sweeping changes to the Roman Catholic Church in centuries. In 1960, he sent Merton one of his stoles and a signed photograph. Merton wrote a letter concerning the threat of nuclear war, the war machine in the United States, and Merton's support for the peace movement. Pope John's secretary Monsignor Capovilla expressed that the Holy Father was "impressed" by the letter and pleased by his writings on peace and dialog with Protestants. Bl. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was beatified in 2000. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 481.)