100 KM WITH POPE JOHN

It is the fifth year that I dedicate 100 to a saint. This year I want to remember Blessed John XXIII ° 50 years after his death in Rome on June 3, 1963.

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on 25 November 1881 in Sotto il Monte – near Bergamo – to a peasant family. He certainly didn’t have an athlete’s physique and I don’t think he was a great cross-country skier. But he is one who has “walked” a lot and made others “walk”.

He took his personal journey of faith seriously, working on his character, giving himself a rule of life, training with spiritual exercises, and writing his journey in a diary, the “Journal of the soul”.

He made a long journey of service to the Church that led him to Bulgaria, Turkey, France, then to Venice and Rome, to meet different worlds, to establish bridges of dialogue with other Christian confessions and with everyone, to face the serious problems of his time. he was also the first modern pope to leave the Vatican with a trip to Assisi and Loreto and with other short but significant exits such as the visit to the Regina Coeli prison.

He made very important steps that made the Church walk and brought it closer to humanity, to the hopes and tears of many people: let’s think of the famous caress to bring home to the children in the “speech to the moon” on the evening of 11 October ’62, the interest in resolving the Cuban crisis that could trigger a nuclear world conflict, the encyclical Pacem in terris and above all the convocation of Vatican Council II.

Along the route of 100 I don’t think there are churches or images of Pope John. There are, however, many places that can remember this mild and courageous prophet of hope. Near these places I will stop to pray and meditate on what he has said and done, accompanied as always by a booklet that will be available to those who wish.

(file PDF 2 M) – booklet with itinerary

Don Luca Ravaglia