Pope John (XXIII)

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born to a family of sharecroppers in the country village of Sotto il Monte in Italy’s Lombardy region. Roncalli obtained his doctorate in theology and became an ordained priest in 1904 in Monte Santo, Rome’s Catholic Church of Santa Maria. In 1935, Roncolli was made Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece. Roncalli used this office to help save Jewish refugees from the Nazis during WWII. Roncalli was made a Cardinal and Patriarch of Venice in 1953 by Pope Pius XII. After Pope Pius XII died in 1958, Roncalli was elected to Pope and chose “John” as his regal name. He served until his death in June 1963.