Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, paid tribute to Blessed John Paul I as he dedicated a rehabilitation center named after the Pontiff.
Pope John Paul I, who reigned for a month in 1978, “taught that we love God by loving our neighbor: the two loves are inseparable twins,” said Cardinal Parolin, who serves as president of the John Paul I Vatican Foundation. “His was a simple charity, manifested in everyday life; it was made up of small gestures. And it was also a smiling charity. The poor, he said, are the treasure of the Church.”
Cardinal Parolin invited the employees of the rehabilitation center, located in Rome’s Romanina neighborhood, “to draw inspiration continually from the figure of this great Pope, who left an indelible mark on the history of the Church despite his brief pontificate.”