John Paul I's niece comments on the decree of the Causes of Saints and recounts memories and private details of her relationship with the Pope whom she describes as “a second father”. “He was a man of culture and hope, not a poor man who died under the weight of responsibility”.
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We are happy. It's really an honor. Pia Luciani, niece of Albino Luciani, passed down in history as John Paul I, commented on the decree of the Causes of Saints that proclaims the "heroic virtues" of her uncle. To the question of what represented this illustrious family member to her, the first daughter of the Pope’s beloved brother Edoardo, goes silent and lets herself go to countless memories. "He was like a second father to me" she says. And what people saw on Peter's throne for only 33 days was the same person who went to visit his twelve nephews and nieces, to whom he "never taught from the top of his teaching post" but told stories, sometimes even jokes with a moral ending, exhorting them always to practice "eutrapelia".
Excuse me, what does that mean?
“It is a Greek word, it means showing happiness to others, finding the joyful and playful side in all things, because, he told us, "When things go wrong, they never go completely wrong. There is always a solution". He studied Greek and sometimes these words slipped in, even though he generally tried to be as simple as possible so as to reach everyone".
Even too simple, as he was criticized by some press of the time
“Tell me about it! He took great care of every sentence, every word in his speeches and writings. Once I had stopped over to spend the night at his house when he was still Patriarch of Venice and I found him in the chapel, early the morning - he had always been a workaholic. He was holding a sheet of paper. He told me, "To pray, I have prayed, now I'm trying to finish my speech for tomorrow. I'm afraid it's not simple enough". I asked if could read it and told him: "Uncle, it is very understandable". "But you have a degree in Literature, I can't trust you," he replied. He wanted to reach everyone, and this effort of simplicity cost him dearly. I still remember those articles saying that the Church had stooped, that the cardinals had elected a parish priest from the countryside, a peasant, someone who could barely read and write… I thought: poor uncle, look at how they are treating him! He who studied and would use words such as "eutrapelia"".
Those criticism in life then left room for that kind of noir literature that broke through immediately after his sudden death.
“What a shame: those who speculated to earn money. They have sold just about everything between newspapers and books. Fortunately, the excellent book by the vice-postulator Stefania Falasca, after a year-long work, sheds some light and truth on the whole story. Of course, there will still be the irreducible ones who will still not accept it. Even now, evil rumors are still circulating, all suppositions that my uncle has nothing to do with. Like certain Tv shows on him in which then-Secretary of State, Jean Villot, is described as the one who plotted for his death. They were very much attached one to another. After the election, Villot had resigned and my uncle called him saying, "Eminence, working with the new Pope doesn’t please you?" "I believe that the new Pope has the right to choose his collaborators. I'm an old man and I'd like to end my days in an abbey in France". So, eminence, please do me a favour and stay until I have found someone to replace you that is at your height”. I also remember that, after his death, Villot asked to buy the old car with which he used to travel around the Vatican Gardens with the Pope to talk about confidential things. As you can see, reality has often been overturned.
What was the relationship between Luciani and his brother, your father?
“They were brothers but also friends. Two different characters that offset each other. Dad had gone to war, he was harsher, but both were characterized by goodness of mind and generosity. My dad devoted himself to politics, not just the talks of politics, but he wanted to do good to people. And it was his brother Albino who convinced him by telling him, "We have duties and responsibilities towards people”.
You family members have remained on the sidelines in recent years, both as in countering the various hypotheses of Luciani’s death and as for the process of his beatification. Why?
“It was a choice. We didn't want to put our noses in things that didn’t seem to be our responsibility. We never put any pressure on the process either, because it was not right to do so, even if initially the fact that they had not adopted a "preferential way" as for Wojtyla, had saddened us a little. In the sense that this slowness seemed to us to be a lack of trust in our uncle. Instead it turned out to be something positive.
How?
“The years of study and in-depth research have given the correct image of Albino Luciani and not that interpretation of a poor man who died under the weight of responsibility and so on. My uncle was a man of great culture, high hopes and great love for the Church and for others. He tried to live according to the Gospel and in poverty. Especially in poverty. Let me tell you something...".
Please do...
“When I went to Venice, Sister Celestina, one of the Pope’s collaborators, told me, "Miss Pia, tell your uncle to buy new socks, I am tired of mending holes". But why don’t you tell him yourself?" I asked, “I have I tried before, and do you know what he has answered me? But no Sister Celestina, you are so skilled, I am sure you can close these other holes too. Come on… this will save us a bit of money that we can give to the poor ". He was like that. Also when he was Pope. If he had something, he gave it to others, he was good with everyone. He was cheerful too, you know, he cheered people up. I always have him here in front of me.
Now you can pray to him as Blessed.
“I have already been doing this for some time. For me, however, he will always be my uncle Albino. As the oldest of his nieces - I'm 71 years old, I'm an old lady - I got to know him for a longer time. He always said to me that I was the "leader of the group" and that if I had behaved well, all the other brothers and sisters would follow me. Even when I happened to be in Rome, I often visited him. The last time was ten days before his death; he said to me, "I don't have any room on the agenda, but I want to see you. If you don't mind that I keep working while I'm eating, I would invite you to lunch. I went there, I found him serene, surrounded by collaborators. He told me that he had so much work and wanted to do just one thing: to delegate as much as possible the various matters of government so that he had more time to devote himself to the apostolate, to pastoral work".
Instead, after less than two weeks, he died...
Imagine how I felt when I heard the news. The only one to see him on his death bed was my cousin Lina who was in Rome. I was the first family member to be informed. They told me that he had died with some papers in his hand. People immediately began to say: who knows what was written on those sheets! They were working papers, I knew, he was a workaholic as I said before: he would wake up at dawn to pray and then kicked in the day. He slept fifteen minutes at the most in the afternoon, then, at 8 p. m. he wished goodnight, but always took something to read or sign with him. He had sent many books and other documents from Venice; his secretary, Don Mario Senigaglia once told me, "Your uncle has already planned the entire pontificate.
And what kind of pontificate would it have been?
“I don't like to think about what would have happened. He certainly died very soon, but obviously for Providence 33 days were long enough. I believe so, he taught me so. Just know that two years earlier, after a trip to Brazil, he returned with a thrombus in the vein of his eye and he would say laughing that the doctor told him that if this thrombus had stopped elsewhere he would have died. “Uncle, but why are you laughing?” I asked, “Because this is God's providence". In fact, he could have died two years earlier but that did not happen. He had a mission to accomplish and, even if in just one month, I think he did well. This is demonstrated by the fact that still today there are people who talk about him, who remember him, that there are young people who want to know him as I can notice on Facebook and Twitter where many write to me".
