formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.

John XXIII did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died nine months later on 3 June 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II