Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Smiling Pope's Election



August 26th, 1978



From CNS STORY:



"Yet some Catholics still fondly remember Pope John Paul I and his endearingly simple style of being pope. A few elder cardinals are convinced that his brief papacy was part of a providential design that led to the first non-Italian pontiff in 455 years.



In the crypt below St. Peter's Basilica, the tomb of 'the smiling pope' still draws the most comments from passers-by.



On a recent morning, 56-year-old Lucia Casella went up to the marble sarcophagus decorated with angels and gave it a kiss.



'I remember him with great affection. I think he was very human -- smiling on the outside but perhaps worried on the inside about the duties of being pope,' she said."