PART I: PRIEST AND PROTECTOR
The sources for the first chapter and the entire book consist primarily of biographies, memoirs, and contemporary news accounts of Angelo Roncalli and his Catholic Church. See the bibliographical listing, “Sources,” for complete details.
One important source for the author’s reflections in the first chapter was The Modern Papacy Since 1789 by Frank J. Coppa, which is a scholarly account of popes and the papacy since Pius VI.
Throughout this book, Peter Hebblethwaite’s magisterial and authoritative biography, Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World, is drawn upon heavily and cited with some frequency.
The parish register entry (chapter 2) is quoted in Pope John’s own Journal of a Soul, which is quoted throughout this book. Two excellent biographies are cited throughout the chapter: A Man Named John by Alden Hatch and I Will Be Called John by Lawrence Elliot.
Both Hebblethwaite and Journal of a Soul also provide narrative material on the critical early stages of young Roncalli’s life, family situation, and experience in formation for the priesthood.
For an accounting of his first decade as a priest (chapter 3), the major sources include Elliot, Journal, Hebblethwaite, and Hatch.
The primary quotes in the chapter dealing with Roncalli’s World War I experience and the years immediately after (chapter 4), are found in Hebblethwaite’s biography, with additional material gleaned from Hatch and Elliot.
Archbishop Roncalli’s own reminiscences are recorded in Journal of a Soul, as well as by various biographers and journalists. Previously cited biographies cover his diplomatic career in Eastern Europe quite fully and candidly. The crucial World War II years are surprisingly not covered as widely or deeply as one would hope, but I found two sources that provided keen insight and from which I drew material: Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews During the Holocaust, 1939–1945 by John F. Morley and The Holy See and the War in Europe: March 1939–August 1940 by Gerard Noel.
The diplomat’s time in France (chapter 6) and the patriarch’s assignment to Venice are well documented from contemporary sources such as the New York Times and TIME and Life magazines (the latter with consistently fascinating pictures of the man and his milieu that continue over the next decade-plus into his pontificate).
PART II: THE SOUL OF A POPE
In addition to the previously cited biographies, the account of Pope John’s election as supreme pontiff and his historic first days (chapter 7) can be found in Passing the Keys: Modern Cardinals, Conclaves, and the Election of the Next Pope by Francis A. Burkle-Young, a masterful study of the conclave system with inside information (including ballot totals quoted in this book).
Contemporaneous accounts of Pope John XXIII’s pontificate and responses to his writings (chapters 8–11) can be found in newspapers and magazines of the time, including the New York Times (which devoted a huge amount of space to happenings at the Vatican and John in particular) and National Review, both of which provide an American perspective on the Good Pope and his policies—from different, virtually opposite perspectives.
Also, the pope’s longtime secretary, Monsignor Loris Capovilla, recorded his reminiscences of his beloved mentor in a memoir as well as in various interviews in intervening years.
For chapter 9 in particular, the author relied heavily on a gem of an account of the Vatican City State titled The Vatican Empire by Nino Lo Bello, which also includes classic anecdotes of the Good Pope, focusing on his interactions with “regular” people in the employ of the Vatican and visitors to the Holy See.
World events and preparations for the council in 1961 and 1962 (chapters 10 and 11) have been written about for decades, and the author sought accounts of papal actions and responses within and outside the Catholic Church in sources such as the New York Times and TIME magazine, which are quoted, along with Vatican documents promulgated by the pope himself.
PART III: FATHER OF THE COUNCIL
Just as the focus of John’s pontificate shifted in the final several months of his life, the chapters on the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (chapters 12–14) reflect that shift in relying on the literature of the council that was published at the time, immediately after, and in recent years with the approach of the fiftieth anniversary of its opening.
Reflections in the final chapter (chapter 15) similarly cite a variety of sources, including biographies such as Hebblethwaite’s (drawn from ubiquitously, as before) and incisive commentaries such as those by O’Malley (recent) and Rynne (contemporaneous).