Angelo Gugel, private assistant to three Popes, has died

Angelo Gugel standing on left, holds Pope John Paul I's arm after he was shot on May 13, 1981

Source: Vatican Media

Angelo Gugel, who served as the Papal Chamber Assistant to Popes John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, has died in Rome at the age of 90 after decades in service of the Popes, including standing beside John Paul II during the assassination attempt on May 13, 1981.

For half a century, between the closing years of the twentieth century and the dawn of the new millennium, Angelo Gugel served three Popes with quiet discretion and reserve as a First Assistant of the Chamber of His Holiness. Mr Gugel died in Rome on Thursday night at the age of 90, surrounded by his family.

His service began with the brief pontificate of Pope John Paul I, who called his fellow Venetian to join his lay collaborators. He continued through the long pontificate of John Paul II, of whom Gugel was a silent witness for nearly 27 years, and extended into the beginning of Benedict XVI's pontificate, when, already in his seventies, he concluded his duties.

Born on April 27, 1935, in Miane, in Italy's Treviso region, Mr Gugel married Maria Luisa Dall'Arche in 1964. They had four children: Raffaella, Flaviana, Guido, and Carla Luciana Maria.

He was among the last to have experienced up close-Papal Chamber Assistants are an integral part of the Papal Household-the short life of Pope John Paul I. He later testified in the process that led to the late Pope's beatification.

He then served Pope John Paul II, and was standing his side even during the assassination attempt in St Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.

Mr Gugel also served at the beginning of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate.

Hailing from a farming family and having spent two years in the seminary, Mr. Gugel was recruited in 1955 as a Vatican gendarme. After falling ill with tuberculosis and undergoing a long convalescence, he was transferred to the Governorate of Vatican City State.

It was there that John Paul I - his former bishop in Vittorio Veneto, who knew both Mr. Gugel's mother and his wife (having ordained her brother, Father Mario Dall'Arche) - asked to have him close at hand.

During the Second Vatican Council, Mr Gugel had already driven him in Rome and had even been to dinner at his home.

Always impeccably dressed, with a sober elegance that never sought attention, Angelo Gugel preserved the discretion required by his delicate role even after retirement. He rarely gave interviews.

On the centenary of Saint John Paul II's birth, he shared a few memories with the special issue of L'Osservatore Romano prepared for the anniversary.

"My legs were trembling when I was called back to the Apartment after the death of John Paul I," he wrote, describing being summoned to the Apostolic Palace by the Pope "who had come from very far away."

"But the atmosphere of trust established by the Holy Father," and "also by Mgr Stanislao and the sisters, made me feel 'at home'," he added, referring to John Paul II's personal secretary - now Cardinal Dziwisz - and to the Polish women religious who assisted him.

Looking back on the 27 years spent with the Polish Pope-years filled with activity, encounters, and travel-Mr. Gugel recalled the international journeys across five continents, as well as more private moments, such as brief holidays in Cadore or the Aosta Valley.

Even then, he said, he would set aside his ever-present dark suit and tie for sweaters and mountain trousers.

"Keeping my work confidential even within my family was normal. When we went out with the Holy Father in private form, even my family would find out from the newspapers," he noted.

Regarding the attack on May 13, 1981, he remembered every detail: the bullet hole, the Pope laid on the ground at the entrance to the Vatican Health Services building, and the frantic drive to the Gemelli Hospital.

In a 2018 interview with Corriere della Sera, Mr Gugel shared two anecdotes.

"Two days after the election, the substitute of the Secretariat of State, Giuseppe Caprio, phoned at 11.30am at the Governorate saying: 'Mr Gugel is to report to the Pope's private apartment just as he is dressed.' I went up to the top floor of the Apostolic Palace. My legs were trembling. There were only Polish prelates; I was the only one who spoke Italian."

That proved helpful in assisting the new Pope with pronunciation in his earliest speeches. "I was taken aback when, on the morning of October 22, 1978, before going to St Peter's Square for the solemn beginning of the pontificate, the Holy Father called me into his study and read me the homily he would deliver shortly thereafter: 'Do not be afraid! Open, indeed, throw wide the doors to Christ! Do not be afraid! Christ knows what is inside man. Only he knows it!' He asked me to point out any mispronunciations, and with a pencil he would note where to place the stresses. Two months later, meeting my former colleagues from the Gendarmerie, he came out with a phrase that left me stunned: 'If I get the stress wrong on some word, 50 percent of the blame is Angelo's,' and he smiled at me."

In the same interview, he also recalled a dramatic moment from his family life. When his wife Maria Luisa was expecting their fourth child - whom they planned to name Carla Luciana Maria in honour of Pope John Paul I (Luciani) and Pope John Paul II (Wojtyła)- "very serious problems arose in the uterus."

The gynaecologists at the Gemelli Polyclinic said the pregnancy could not continue. Then, Mr Gugel recounted, one day John Paul II told him: "Today I celebrated Mass for your wife."

On April 9, Maria Luisa was taken into the operating room for a caesarean delivery. Afterwards, one doctor remarked: "Someone must have prayed a great deal."

On the birth certificate he wrote "7.15am," which was the exact moment when the Pope's morning Mass reached the Sanctus.

At breakfast, Sister Tobiana Sobotka, superior of the women religious serving in the Apostolic Palace, told the Pope that Carla Luciana Maria had been born. "Deo gratias," the Pope exclaimed. And, on April 27, he himself baptized her in his private chapel.