11th October - Saint John XXIII - Independent Catholic News

11th October - Saint John XXIII - Independent Catholic News: Pope and reformer. Although few people had as great an impact on the twentieth century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. One writer noted that his 'ordinariness' was one of his most remarkable qualities. Born in 1881, the first son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo's diocesan seminary, he