A humble farmstead was the scene of the birth of a saint.
Indeed, Pope John XXIII saw the light in Sotto il Monte, to a modest and very large family.
On the evening of October 11, 1962, at the end of the first day of the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII looked out his window onto St. Peter’s Square and improvised a speech filled with words of love, including: “Returning home, you will find children, give a caress to your children and say: this is the Pope’s caress. You will find some tears to wipe away: say a good word. The Pope is with us, especially in the hours of sadness and bitterness.”
You can well understand why he is one of the most beloved popes, this man who was born and remained simple but was able to launch in just five years of his pontificate the foundations of a profound transformation of the Catholic Church with the Second Vatican Council.
His birthplace has become a small museum collecting mementos of his life, and since Pope John XXIII became a saint in 2014, it has been increasingly visited and pilgrimaged by the faithful.
