In 1978, the Catholic Church — and, for that matter, the world — experienced something that had not occurred since 1605: a year of three popes.
This was the result of the death of Pope John Paul I only 33 days after he had been elected to succeed Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II, the third pope of that year, was elected on October 16.
In the short time John Paul I was in office — in fact, as soon as he was elected — the “September pope” had a permanent impact on the papacy: He declined to wear the tiara or “triple crown” that had long been associated with the pope, he refused to be “crowned” at all, and he did not refer to himself as “we” in his public statements.
All of these steps seemed consistent with his personality, which won him the sobriquet “Il sorriso di Dio” — “The Smile of God.”
Use of some form of the tiara by the pope dates from the early history of the Church, from at least the eighth century.
The last pope to use it was Paul VI, who was crowned in 1963 with a tiara in the bullet-shaped style adopted perhaps six hundred years before. Several different meanings have been assigned to the three coronas on the tiara — for example, that they signify the three roles of Jesus: priest, prophet, and king — but there is no definitive explanation.
After the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, however, Pope Paul decided not to wear the crown again, ceremoniously placing it on the high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica as a sign of humility.
When Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope John Paul I, he opted for an inaugural Mass rather than a coronation, and that practice was continued by both of his successors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. All indications are that Pope Francis will do the same.
Either a coronation or an inauguration will be strictly symbolic, by the way, since the man chosen will become pope at the instant he accepts his election.
John Paul I also broke with tradition by referring to himself in the first person singular rather than with the royal “we,” and the popes since him have followed suit.
The changes made by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I call to mind a hymn — “Long Live the Pope” — that was written early in the twentieth century by two priests: Hugh T. Henry and H. T. Ganss.
Father Henry’s lyrics in one of the verses say, “His signet is the fisherman’s / No scepter does he bear / In meek and lowly majesty / he rules from Peter’s Chair.’’
In the spirit of those words, these two modern popes gave us the great gift of example.
We Christians are all called to humility — not in the sense of denying our own worth but in the sense of putting ourselves at the disposal of other people, especially the least of the brothers and sisters of Jesus.
For the pope, “majesty” is easily within reach, but most of us who are not popes still have opportunities to be aloof or superior or even overbearing in our relationship with other people, whether in our families, on our jobs, or in our social lives.
When those opportunities present themselves, a thought of two supreme pontiffs who put aside the trappings of authority can help us remember that we, like them, are called to be servants of the servants of God.
Charles Paolino is a member of the RENEW staff and a permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Metuchen.