Editing Pope John XXIII (section)

===Calling the Council===
[[File:Pope John XXIII and Sami as-Solh.png|thumb|John XXIII with Prime Minister of Lebanon [[Sami as-Solh]] in 1959]] 
Far from being a mere "stopgap" pope, to great excitement, John XXIII called for an [[ecumenical council]] fewer than 90 years after the [[First Vatican Council]] (Vatican I's predecessor, the [[Council of Trent]], had been held in the 16th century). This decision was announced on 25 January 1959 at the [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]]. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, who later became [[Pope Paul VI]], remarked to [[Giulio Bevilacqua]] that "this holy old boy doesn't realize what a hornet's nest he's stirring up."<ref>{{Citation |first=George |last=Weigel |url=http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/thinking-through-vatican-ii |title=Thinking Through Vatican II |newspaper=First Things |date=June–July 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609185705/http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/thinking-through-vatican-ii |archive-date=9 June 2011 |access-date=22 April 2010 }}</ref> From the [[Second Vatican Council]] came changes that reshaped the face of Catholicism: a [[Mass of Paul VI|comprehensively revised liturgy]], a stronger emphasis on [[ecumenism]], and a new approach to the world.

Prior to the first session of the council, John XXIII visited [[Assisi]] and [[Loreto, Marche|Loreto]] on 4 October 1962 to pray for the new upcoming council as well as to mark the feast day of Saint [[Francis of Assisi]]. He was the first pope to travel outside Rome since [[Pope Pius IX]]. Along the way, there were several halts at [[Orte]], [[Narni]], [[Terni]], [[Spoleto]], [[Foligno]], [[Fabriano]], [[Iesi]], [[Falconara Marittima]] and [[Ancona]] where the crowds greeted him.<ref>{{Citation |first=Peter |last=Hebblethwaite |title=John XXIII, Pope of the Council |edition=rev |publisher=Harper Collins |place=Glasgow |year=1994 |page=425}}</ref>