John XXIII
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: Twentieth Century
- Categories: Religion, Ethics
- Subcategories: Christianity, Christians, Churches, Catholic Church, Catholics, Popes, Papacy, Cardinals
- Curriculum: Italian History, 20th & 21st Century European History
Article abstract: John called the Second Vatican Council, which would modernize the Catholic church, and guided the early planning of the council, which helped ensure its achievements.
Early Life
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, was the fourth of ten children in a poor, devout tenant farmer family in a small Lombard village. Unusually for the time period, when illiteracy was still common in rural villages, Angelo was sent to a nearby village to be educated by the priest. Although not a brilliant student, Roncalli was admitted to the...
[The entire page is 1959 words long]
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