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Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, Italian: [dʒoˈvanni batˈtista enˈriːko anˈtɔːnjo maˈriːa monˈtiːni]; 26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June
- Pope John Paul I
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- Pope John XXIII
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- Beatification and canonization
The cause for the canonization of Pope Paul VI, who died in...
- Pope John Paul I
- Overview
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- Vatican II and Paul VI’s pontificate
St. Paul VI (born September 26, 1897, Concesio, near Brescia, Italy—died August 6, 1978, Castel Gandolfo; beatified October 19, 2014; canonized October 14, 2018; feast day September 26) Italian pope (reigned 1963–78) during a period including most of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) and the immediate postconciliar era, in which he issued direct...
The son of a middle-class lawyer—who was also a journalist and local political figure—and of a mother belonging to the same social background, Montini was in his early years educated mainly at home because of frail health. Later he studied in Brescia. Ordained a priest on May 29, 1920, he was sent by his bishop to Rome for higher studies and was eventually recruited for the Vatican diplomatic service. His first assignment, in May 1923, was to the staff of the apostolic nunciature (papal ambassador’s post) in Warsaw, but persistent ill health brought him back to Rome before the end of that same year. He then pursued special studies at the Ecclesiastical Academy, the training school for future Vatican diplomats, and at the same time resumed work at the Vatican Secretariat of State, where he remained in posts of increasing importance for more than 30 years.
In 1939 Montini was appointed papal undersecretary of state and later, in 1944, acting secretary for ordinary (or nondiplomatic) affairs. He declined an invitation to be elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1953. In the beginning of November 1954, Pope Pius XII appointed him archbishop of Milan, and Pope John XXIII named him a cardinal in 1958. He was elected pope on June 21, 1963, choosing to be known as Paul VI.
The Montini pontificate began in the period following the difficult first session of the Second Vatican Council, in which the new pope had played an important, though not spectacular, part. His lengthy association with university students in the stormy atmosphere of the early days of the fascist regime in Italy, in combination with the generally philosophical bent of his mind—developed by a long-standing habit of extensive and reflective reading—enabled him to bring to the perplexing problems of the times an academic understanding, coupled with the knowledge derived from long years of practical diplomatic experience. Paul VI guided the three remaining sessions of the Second Vatican Council, often developing points he had first espoused as cardinal archbishop of Milan. His chief concern was that the Roman Catholic Church in the 20th century should be a faithful witness to the tradition of the past, except when tradition was obviously anachronistic.
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Upon the completion of the council (December 8, 1965), Paul VI was confronted with the formidable task of implementing its decisions, which affected practically every facet of church life. He approached this task with a sense of the difficulty involved in making changes in centuries-old structures and practices—changes rendered necessary by many rapid transformations in the social, psychological, and political milieu of the 20th century. Paul VI’s approach was consistently one of careful assessment of each concrete situation, with a sharp awareness of the many varied complications that he believed could not be ignored.
This prevalently philosophical attitude was often construed by his critics as timidity, indecision, and uncertainty. Nonetheless, many of Paul VI’s decisions in these crucial years called for courage. In July 1968 he published his encyclical Humanae vitae (“Of Human Life”), which reaffirmed the stand of several of his predecessors on the long-smoldering controversy over artificial means of birth control, which he opposed. In many sectors this encyclical provoked adverse reactions that may be described as the most violent attacks on the authority of papal teaching in modern times. Similarly, his firm stand on the retention of priestly celibacy (Sacerdotalis caelibatus, June 1967) evoked much harsh criticism. Paul VI later likened the large numbers of priests leaving the ministry to a “crown of thorns.” He also was disturbed by the growing numbers of religious men and women asking for release from vows or who were abandoning out of hand their religious vows.
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE. PAUL VI. (1897-1978) The second child of Giorgio and Giuditta Alghisi, Giovanni Battista Montini was born in Concesio, Brescia, on 26 September 1897. He was ordained to the priesthood on 19 May 1920. He studied philosophy, civil law and canon law.
Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus PP. VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, was an Italian priest of the Roman Catholic Church and the 263rd Pope from 1963 until his death in 1978. Paul was a spiritual leader and the head of the church bureaucracy.
Sep 26, 2022 · Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo on August 6, 1978, and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. He was beatified on October 19, 2014, and canonized on October 14, 2018. Since 2019 his liturgical feast has been celebrated on May 29. Reflection. Pope Saint Paul’s greatest accomplishment was the completion and implementation of Vatican II.
Mar 8, 2018 · Pope Francis. Paul VI, who concluded the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis through a Decree of Promulgation on Wednesday, has confirmed the Canonization of Blessed Paul VI. Blessed Pope Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini, was elected as Successor of Peter on the 21st June 1963 and died on the 6th August 1978.
