John Xxiii's Reign During The Middle Ages

John XXIII was 76 years old when he came to the papal throne, and his age. Inevitably his reign was brief, but in terms of its significance and its effects upon religious and world history it was perhaps the most important pontificate since the middle Ages.
Much of this significance, from the train of events which he set in motion during the years of his reign, but much of it also lay in his unique personality. Previous popes had usually been remote figures from the very outset John endeared himself to the whole world by his warmth, humour, and his easy approachability. He had impatience with empty traditionalism and often astonished his aides by the forthright way in which he cut through meaningless formalities.
For example, Popes had always been customary for them to dine alone within a
S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral performed before him in the papal apartments. He literally horrified Vatican officials and the Italian government by having his chauffeur drive him unannounced and unescorted through the streets of Rome. He visited also sometimes at very short notice hospitals, nursing homes, and even prisons.
The conclave that had elected Pope John had been reduced to 52 cardinals, of whom 12 were more than 80 years old; one of his first acts was a consistory at which he elevated 23 prelates to the Sacred College, including many younger and more vigorous men. By so doing he broke the rule, established in 1586 by Sixtus V, limiting the number of cardinals to 70 and also gave the College much wider geographical representation than it had known until that time. In three subsequent consistories he expanded the membership to 87, its highest figure to that date.
But the most momentous act of his pontificate was, of course, his decision to call an ecumenical council of the Universal Church, the first since 1870 and only the twenty-first in the Church's 2000 year history. Know as the Vatican