I was born Angelo Roncalli in Bergamo in 1881. After my ordination in 1904, I worked as the secretary for a bishop and a teacher in the Bergamo diocesan seminary. I served in the Royal Italian Army in the medical corps and as a chaplain during World War I. After this I worked in the service of The Holy See in a series of positions, including Italian president of the Society for the Propogation of the Faith & Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, before being consecrated as titluar bishop of Areopolis.
When I was made Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece in 1935, I was able to use my office to help the Jewish underground in saving thousands of European refugees; because of this, many consider me to be a 'righteous Gentile'.
I was raised to the rank of Cardinal in 1953 upon being named Patriarch of Venice. When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, I travelled to the Vatican to participate in the conclave, but had ensured that I had bought a return ticket home. To my great surprise I was elected Pope! Most cardinals presumed that I would be a short-term or 'stop-gap' Pope after the long reign of Pius.
Among other deeds which caused great sensation (such as visiting sick children and prisoners), I met the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on December 2, 1960. It was the first time in over 400 years, since the excommunication of Elizabeth I, that the Archbishop of Canterbury had met with the Pope. I also arranged a meeting with the first Greek Orthodox sovereign to visit a Pope since last days of the Byzantine Empire.
As was the practice until it was abolished at Vatican II, the people of my region of origin, Bergamo, were required to give me a Papal tiara. I asked that the makers halve the number of jewels with which they planned to decorate it and give the financial saving to the poor. I once granted papal audience to a travelling circus and joked with a lion cub.
Far from treading water in St Peter's throne, I became the "Shepherd of the Modern World!" I called the Second Vatican Council which ushered changes that renewed the face of Catholicism, most notably with a comprehensively revised liturgy, a stronger emphasis on ecumenism and a new approach to relations between the Church and the World. I am seen as being personally and primarily responsible for breaking down the tradition of ecclesial exclusivism which had existed in the Catholic Church. I wanted to "throw open the windows of the Church so that we can see out and the people can see in."
Stomach cancer got the better of me and I died on June 3 1963. I was buried on June 6, ending a reign of four years, seven months and six days.
Known as "Good Pope John" and "the most loved Pope in history", I was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000 . My body was observed to be extremely well-preserved — a condition which the Church ascribes to the lack of oxygen in my sealed triple coffin rather than to any miraculous event (although it was certainly seen as such by many of the faithful).
I am honored by many Protestant organizations as a Christian reformer. Both Anglican and Lutheran denominations commemorate me as a "renewer of the church". The then fiercely anti-Catholic Belfast City Council flew the flag over city hall at half-mast in my honour after my death.
Here are some tributes to me:
