Pope Paul VI
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 1963 to his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. In January 1964, he flew to Jordan, the first time a reigning pontiff had left Italy in more than a century.[9]
Paul VI
21 June 1963
6 August 1978
29 May 1920
by Giacinto Gaggia
12 December 1954
by Eugène Tisserant
15 December 1958
by John XXIII
6 August 1978 (aged 80)
Castel Gandolfo, Italy
- Referendary Prelate of the Apostolic Signatura (1926–1938)
- Substitute for General Affairs (1937–1953)
- Pro-Secretary for Ordinary Affairs of Secretariat of State (1953–1954)
- Archbishop of Milan (1954–1963)
- Cardinal-Priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti (1958–1963)
- 29 May[1]
- 30 May (Ambrosian Rite)[2]
- Catholic Church
- Palmarian Church[3]
19 October 2014
Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City
by Pope Francis
14 October 2018
Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City
by Pope Francis
- Papal vestments
- Papal tiara
- Archdiocese of Milan[4]
- Paul VI Pontifical Institute[5]
- Second Vatican Council[6]
- Diocese of Brescia[7]
- Concesio
- Magenta
- Paderno Dugnano
None
28 February 1920
28 February 1920
Concesio, Brescia
29 May 1920
Concesio, Brescia
- Giacinto Tredici (Brescia)
- Domenico Bernareggi (Milan aux.)
12 December 1954
Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
15 December 1958
22 May 1955
22 May 1955
5 June 1955
3 October 1955
1 November 1955
13 November 1955
14 September 1958
25 June 1960
7 December 1960
7 December 1961
26 May 1963
20 October 1963
20 October 1963
28 June 1964
28 June 1964
3 December 1964
19 March 1966
19 March 1966
16 July 1967
16 July 1967
16 July 1967
6 January 1969
3 December 1970
13 February 1972
13 February 1972
29 June 1973
29 June 1973
30 June 1974
30 June 1974
Montini served in the Holy See's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954, and along with Domenico Tardini was considered the closest and most influential advisor of Pope Pius XII. In 1954, Pius named Montini Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini later became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops' Conference. John XXIII elevated Montini to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after his death, Montini was, with little opposition, elected his successor, taking the name Paul VI.[10]
He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which had been suspended during the interregnum. After its conclusion, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, finely balancing the conflicting expectations of various Catholic groups. The resulting reforms were among the widest and deepest in the Church's history.
Paul VI spoke repeatedly to Marian conventions and Mariological meetings, visited Marian shrines and issued three Marian encyclicals. Following Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council.[11] He described himself as a humble servant of a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes from the rich in North America and Europe in favour of the poor in the Third World.[12] His opposition to birth control in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae was strongly contested, especially in Western Europe and North America. The same opposition emerged in reaction to some of his political doctrines.
Pope Benedict XVI, citing his heroic virtue, proclaimed him venerable on 20 December 2012. Pope Francis beatified Paul VI on 19 October 2014, after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. His liturgical feast was celebrated on the date of his birth, 26 September, until 2019 when it was changed to the date of his priestly ordination, 29 May.[1] Pope Francis canonised him on 14 October 2018.
Vatican career[edit]
Diplomatic service[edit]
Montini had just one foreign posting in the diplomatic service of the Holy See as Secretary in the office of the papal nuncio to Poland in 1923. Of the nationalism he experienced there he wrote: "This form of nationalism treats foreigners as enemies, especially foreigners with whom one has common frontiers. Then one seeks the expansion of one's own country at the expense of the immediate neighbours. People grow up with a feeling of being hemmed in. Peace becomes a transient compromise between wars."[20] He described his experience in Warsaw as "useful, though not always joyful".[21] When he became pope, the Communist government of Poland refused him permission to visit Poland on a Marian pilgrimage.
Papal styles of
Pope Paul VI
Final years and death[edit]
Rumours of homosexuality and denial[edit]
In 1976 Paul VI became the first pontiff in the modern era to deny the accusation of homosexuality. On 29 December 1975, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document entitled Persona Humana: Declaration on Certain Questions concerning Sexual Ethics, that reaffirmed church teaching that pre- or extramarital sex, homosexual activity, and masturbation are sinful acts.[147][148] In response, Roger Peyrefitte, who had already written in two of his books that Paul VI had a longtime homosexual relationship, repeated his charges in a magazine interview with a French gay magazine that, when reprinted in Italian, brought the rumours to a wider public and caused an uproar. He said that the Pope was a hypocrite who had a longtime sexual relationship with an actor.[149][150][151] Widespread rumours identified the actor as Paolo Carlini,[152] who had a small part in the Audrey Hepburn film Roman Holiday (1953). In a brief address to a crowd of approximately 20,000 in St Peter's Square on 18 April, Paul VI called the charges "horrible and slanderous insinuations" and appealed for prayers on his behalf. Special prayers for the Pope were said in all Italian Catholic churches in "a day of consolation".[150][152][e] The charges have resurfaced periodically. In 1994, Franco Bellegrandi, a former Vatican honour chamberlain and correspondent for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, alleged that Paul VI had been blackmailed and had promoted other gay men to positions of power within the Vatican.[154] In 2006, the newspaper L'Espresso reported that the private papers of police commander General Giorgio Manes accepted the blackmail story as true, and that they claimed Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro had been asked to help.[152][155]
Pope Saint
Paul VI
Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini
26 September 1897
Concesio, Brescia, Kingdom of Italy
6 August 1978 (aged 80)
Castel Gandolfo, Italian Republic
19 October 2014, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis
14 October 2018, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis
29 May
Archdiocese of Milan, Paul VI Pontifical Institute, Second Vatican Council, Diocese of Brescia, Concesio, Magenta, Paderno Dugnano