Pope Francis will bestow sainthood on two of his much-loved predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, at the Vatican on Sunday. While much of the world's focus will be on the remarkable papacy of Pope John Paul II, many Catholics will celebrate the short but historic pontificate of John XXIII. Letters revealed by Catholic officials on Wednesday provided an insight into the humble life of the so-called "Good Pope". Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in 1881, the son of sharecroppers, in Sotto il Monte, a small village near Bergamo, in northern Italy. In 1900, when he was just 19, the young Roncalli wrote to a seminary asking to be given one of the three places reserved for poor students. A year later, in a letter to his parents, he said he had not chosen to become a priest "to make money, to find comfort, honours and pleasures". "I am doing it just to help the poor people anyway I can," he said. John XXIII was elected pope in 1958, at the age of 76. He was dubbed the "Good Pope" for his loving and affectionate way with people. At Wednesday's news conference at the Vatican, Guido Gusso, his one-time room aide, said the former pontiff had an easygoing relationship with Vatican employees. "He told me, let's make a deal," he said. "You kiss the ring in the morning and wish me good morning, and then you kiss it again in the evening and wish me goodnight, but if you want to kneel down - we were in front of the Chapel of Pius XII - he opened the doors and said, 'Go kneel down in front of the most saintly of the saints' ". John XXIII, whose pontificate lasted just under five years, surprised everybody by calling an ecumenical council just a few months after his election. The Second Vatican Council - known also as Vatican II - opened the Church to people of other faiths and allowed for Mass to be celebrated in the languages of the faithful, rather than Latin. In the years since Vatican II closed in 1965, though, it has become a source of division in the Church, with critics blaming a faulty interpretation of Vatican II's true meaning on the fall in priestly vocations and the "crisis" in the Church today. John XXIII died of stomach cancer in June 1963, at the age of 81. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9bcfa3ea3ddfbbbd806ce03ab71980ad Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 03 Aug 2015
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