PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli

who faced the world as pope on November  4th, 1958

He  wanted to be like St.John Baptist, a voice speaking to men.

He produced the most beautiful encyclical letter that has ever been written on the theme of Love.













Pope John-Paul XXIII



Behold this man,- whose epithet is Hope,

Renewal of the Spirit he stands for,

Behold the roly -poly  smiling pope,

A pontiff saint with spirit and humor!.



Papa Giovanni he was called on earth,

Who brought renewal and could reconcile

A life of fervent piety with mirth,

And does delight  the Lord now with his smile.



The Curia thought they could manipulate

The “nice-guy” pontiff like a piece of cake,

And underlings endeavored to frustrate

His plans, - but Oh! - they made a big mistake!



Determination, - spontaneity,-

Both attributes a splendid gift from God,

He jumped the hurdles of malignity,

And gave advance of sciences his nod.



Down came the carefully erected wall,

Infringing upon  conscience’s liberty,

That crippled freedom intellectual,

And contravened collegiality.



Ah  conscience!,- kept in fetters, he restored,

And gave it's eminence  its proper place,

Inspired for new world views by the Lord,

Who frowned upon the church’s  stony face.



He suffered much from clerics ossified,

Frigid conservatives and their regime,

For opening the churche's window wide,

To let the Holy Spirit roaring in.



The helmsman matters not, it is the crew,

The laity from which the saints arise,

So that the church can readily renew,

Limbs moribund, which saints revitalize.



The rule of terror found its end, at last-

The Spirit bloweth where it willth, Script reads,

And Index and controls  were of the past,

For mercy’s bloom sprang from John's golden seeds.



Dulled  sheep he turned into strong upright  men,

Who understood responsibility,-

And cancelled many an eccentric ban,

And raised the status of the  laity.



Though his successors tried  so hard to turn

The clock back in its eager forward race,

Change! Change! - stiff prelates had to learn,-

We know the Lord works in mysterious ways.



Derided on his death bed by a fop,

For having spirit’s freedom’s flag unfurled,

Bow to this roly-poly “nice-guy” pope,

Who smiling overcame and changed this world.



© Elizabeth Dandy