"Very dear brothers and sisters...
... we are still greatly saddened by the death of our dearly beloved Pope John Paul I. And now the eminent Cardinals have called upon a new bishop of Rome. They have called him from a distant country, distant yet close through communion in the Christian Faith and Tradition. I was afraid to receive this nomination, but I accepted it in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord Jesus Christ and in total trust to His Mother, the Most Holy Virgin... I present myself to all of you to profess our common faith, our hope, our trust in the Mother of Christ and of the Church, and once again to start on this path of history of the Church, with God's help and with help of men."
John Paul II on his election to the papacy (16.10.78)
Back to Selected Quotations
Back to Pope John Paul the Great: Contents