Vatican City, Vatican - September 2022 - On Sunday, Sept. 4, on the parvis of the Vatican Basilica, Pope Francis granted that the Venerable Servant of God, Pope John Paul I, henceforth be called Blessed. He ordered that he be celebrated annually on Aug. 26, commemorating the day in 1978 when Albino Luciani was elected the 263rd successor of Peter. The beatification ceremony presided over by Pope Francis, with more than 500 concelebrants - including cardinals, bishops, priests and deacons - was attended by about 25,000 faithful. One of the most touching moments was the unveiling of an image depicting the "Pope of the Smile," with his white cassock and serene expression, by Chinese artist Yan Zhang. At the conclusion of his homily, Pope Francis said, "With a smile Pope Luciani managed to transmit the goodness of the Lord. Beautiful is a Church with a joyful face, a serene face, a smiling face, a Church that never closes its doors, that does not sour its hearts, that does not complain or harbor resentment, is not angry, is not impatient, does not present itself sullenly, does not suffer from nostalgia for the past by falling into retrospection. Let us pray to this our father and brother, let us ask that he obtain for us 'the smile of the soul,' the transparent one, the one that does not deceive: the smile of the soul. Let us ask, in his words, what he himself used to ask: 'Lord, take me as I am, with my faults, with my failings, but make me as you desire me' (General Audience, Sept. 13, 1978). Amen."

Source: Vatican News