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When the freshly named patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, chose 37-year-old Fr. Loris Capovilla as his private secretary in 1953, a skeptical adviser told the cardinal that the priest looked too sickly to bear the strain of his new job.
“Then he’ll die as my secretary,” replied the future pope, now known as Blessed John XXIII.
Today, at age 98, now-Archbishop Capovilla has outlived his employer by half a century and remains an indefatigable custodian of his legacy, running a small museum dedicated to Blessed John’s memory in the late pope’s native town of Sotto il Monte Giovanni XXIII, about 25 miles northeast of Milan.
On Feb. 22, Pope Francis is scheduled to make the archbishop the world’s oldest living cardinal. Continue reading.
Source: National Catholic Reporter
Image: Cardinal-elect Capovilla in the museum dedicated to Blessed John XXIII in Sotto il Monte Giovanni XXIII, Italy, in February 2012 CNS/Paul Haring
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