Pope John Paul I
Albino Luciani (1912-1998), Pope from 26 August 1978 until 28 September 1998.
Despite opposition, on 13 July 1982 he published the 3rd Secret of Fatima (65th anniversary), accompanied by his interpretation.
The passages “the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step” and “at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious” led John Paul to believe that it warned of the possible collapse of the organisation and influence of the Catholic Church and the moral or even physical destruction of the Vatican unless the Church heeded the passage, “the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!” John Paul determined that the centralised hierarchical structure was being shown to be corrupting the message of Jesus and urgently sought a way to reorganise before what he believe was the ‘deadline’ of 31 December 1999.
It is now known that he narrowly defeated the many Cardinals etc who were bitterly opposed to his calling of the Third Vatican Council. The hastily convened Council was opened by John Paul on 21 November 1982, who charged its members with the examination of the organisation of the Church and, with divine inspiration, the formulation of a plan to simplify the future structure.
It was soon apparent that the Council was fatally divided, with opposition to the Pope’s call for change being led by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who had succeeded Franjo Seper on 3 September 1978, shortly after John Paul’s election).
As the deliberations dragged on through 1983 and the first half of 1984, a polarisation of views hardened throughout all levels of the Church. On 13 July 1984, two years after his publication of the 3rd Secret of Fatima, the Pope stunned the world by announcing that he was dismissing the Council and would before the end of that year announce plans for the simplification of the Church.
Thus was created the Great Global Schism. Supporters of the Pope were strongest in northern Europe, the Americas, Australasia and Brazil. Supporters of the opposition, “The Defence of the Faith”, were strongest in southern Europe, Latin America (excluding Brazil) and Africa. Asia was a complex mixture of adherents.
From 1990, “The Defence of the Faith” was proclaiming itself the one true faith and in 1992 elected Cardinal Ratzinger as the “True Pope” Pius XIII. While there were many limited outbreaks of violence, in the main the battle was for hearts and minds, with litigation often being used to stop the disposal or occupation of the Church’s assets.
The attack on the Vatican (9 November 1994) by hijacked ‘suicide’ aeroplanes has been blamed on extremist supporters of both factions but was equally condemned by both factions. With 91% of Vatican City destroyed, there remains an ongoing dispute over who has the right to rebuild it. On the day of the attack, John Paul was travelling by helicopter to Milan and thus escaped assassination. The destruction of the Vatican confirmed his belief that his interpretation of the 3rd Secret of Fatima was correct. In 1995 he removed the Papacy to Arnhem, Netherlands. Pius XIII and his followers maintain that Rome is the only place for the headquarters of the Church.
By the time of his death in 1998, Pope John Paul had seen his plans progress to the point where few Bishops remained in his Church and where the number of Parish Priests had declined in favour of peripatetic preachers. His successor took the title ‘John Paul II’ in tribute, but sadly died after only 33 days in office.