Pope Paul VI Totally Explained

Everything about Paul Vi totally explained

| birthplace=Concesio, Italy| dead=dead| death_date=| deathplace=Castel Gandolfo, Italy| other=Paul}} Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus PP. VI; ), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (September 26, 1897 – August 6, 1978), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he presided over the majority of its sessions and oversaw the implementation of its decrees.

Early Life/Career

Giovanni Montini was born in Concesio, in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, into a family of local nobility on his maternal line. He entered the seminary to train to become a Roman Catholic priest in 1916, and was ordained priest in 1920. He took the solemn oath against Modernism before an open tabernacle initiated by Pope St. Pius X. He studied at the Gregorian University, the University of Rome and the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici. His organisational skills led him to a career in the Roman Curia, the papal civil service. In 1937, he was named Substitute for Ordinary Affairs under Cardinal Pacelli, the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XI. When Pacelli was elected Pope Pius XII, Montini was confirmed in the position under the new Secretary of State. When in 1944 the Secretary of State died, the role was assumed directly by the Pope, with Montini working directly under him.
Some of his work during this period remains shrouded in mystery, with claims and counter-claims, most notably concerning his involvement in the diplomatic activities of the Vatican during World War II. For example, the Vatican's repeated contacts with Count Galeazzo Ciano, fascist Minister of Foreign affairs and son-in-law of Mussolini, remains an issue of some criticism. Montini, who worked as a diplomat, has been accused of having obtained from the Fascists, at the beginning of the war, some promises of unclear advantages for the Vatican, in exchange of its eventual support. However, many other historians dispute this analysis.
The unique complexity of the war-time period saw Montini procure large sums of money to aid European Jews, while he's also alleged to have been involved in enabling some leading Nazi officers to escape the collapse of the Third Reich (see Ratlines). Formally a simple administrative employee of the Vatican government, but effectively the closest supporter of Pius XII, he's often been recognized as one of the most important political figures of the period. No official confirmation exists, but evidence indicates that he (along with Alcide De Gasperi) attempted to set up a channel of communication between Crown Princess Maria José (daughter-in-law of the King of Italy and wife of the Prince of Piedmont, Umberto) and the United States, in order to find a separate peace for Italy with the United States; the Princess however wasn't able to meet Myron Taylor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's special representative to the Vatican, and no one knows if Montini was unable to organize this meeting or was unwilling to do so.

Archbishop of Milan

Montini was appointed in 1954, to the senior Italian church post of Archbishop of Milan. Traditionally such an appointment would be followed by being made a cardinal at the next consistory (when vacancies in the College of Cardinals are filled). To the surprise of many, Montini never received the red hat (as the appointment to the cardinalate is often called) before Pope Pius's death in 1958; Pius XII. had only two constitories during his pontificate, in 1946 and 1953. He offered the red hat to Montini and Tardini in 1953, but they turned it down. Montini didn't get the red hat after 1954, because the Pope didn't have a third consistory before his death in 1958. This meant that all archbishops, appointed after 1953, who could expect the honor because of tradition and importance of their city, didn't get the red hat, (Montini Milan, O’Hara Philadelphia, Cushing Boston, König Vienna, Godfrey Westminster, Barbieri Montevideo, Castaldo Naples, Richaud Bordeaux) Pope Pius revealed at the consitory in 1953, that two (Tardini and Montini) were of the very top of his list but turned it down. Montini and Tardini had declined the cardinalate. During his period in Milan, Montini was known as one of the more progressive members of the Catholic hierarchy and a friend of the working class. This reputation, combined with his experience in the Department of the Secretary of State under Pope Pius XII, made him one of the leading figures in the College of Cardinals before he became pope
Although some cardinals viewed him as "papabile", a person who might have succeeded Pope Pius, and although he seemed to have received some votes, Montini since he wasn't a member of the College of Cardinals, wasn't a serious candidate at that particular conclave. Instead Angelo Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope and assumed the name Pope John XXIII. The new pope raised Montini to the cardinalate after only two months in office, with Montini thus becoming Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti.

Pope

most likely successor to Pope John; as the cardinal electors processed into the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave, onlookers even whispered "il Papa, il Papa," at Montini. Montini was an enthusiastic supporter of Pope John's decision to convene the Second Vatican Council. When John died of stomach cancer on June 3, 1963, Montini was elected to the papacy in the following conclave and took the name Paul VI.
   He decided to continue Vatican II (canon law dictates that a council is suspended at the death of a pope), and brought it to completion in 1965. Faced with conflicting interpretations and controversies, he directed the implementation of its reform goals, which included the largest revision to the Church's Liturgy since the Council of Trent (held 400 years prior to Vatican II), until his death in 1978.
   He was also the last pope to date to be crowned; his successor Pope John Paul I replaced the Papal Coronation (which Paul had already substantially modified, but which he left mandatory in his 1975 apostolic constitution Romano Pontifici Eligendo) with a Papal Inauguration. Paul VI donated his own Papal Tiara, a gift from his former Archdiocese of Milan, to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. (where is it on permanent display in the Crypt) as a gift to American Catholics. In 1968, with the motu proprio Pontificalis Domus, he discontinued most of the ceremonial functions of the old Roman nobility at the papal court, save for the Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne. He also abolished the Palatine Guard and the Noble Guard, leaving the Swiss Guard as the sole military order of the Vatican.
   In 1965 he established the Synod of Bishops, but nevertheless reserved certain pronouncements to papal authority alone, including priestly celibacy and contraception, both of which became the subject of controversial encyclicals, Sacerdotalis Caelibatus and Humanae Vitae respectively.

Mariology

Pope Paul VI made extensive contributions to mariology (theological teaching and devotions) during his pontificate. He attempted to present the Marian teachings of the Church in view of her new ecumenical orientation. In his inaugural encyclical Ecclesiam Suam, the Pope called Mary the ideal of Christian perfection. He regards “devotion to the Mother of God as of paramount importance in living the life of the Gospel.” In 1965, he writes that the Queen of Heaven is entrusted by God, as administrator of his compassion In his 1966 encyclical on the rosary, he recommends the prayer in light of the war in Vietnam and the dangers of atomic conflicts. The rosary is a summary of gospel teaching. In 1967 he pilgrimaged to Fatima. His new Missal includes all new Marian prayers. And in his 1974 exhortation Marialis Cultus, he again promotes Marian devotions, highlighting the Angelus and Rosary prayers. Mary deserves the devotions because she's the mother of graces and because of her unique role in redemption.

Humanæ Vitæ

To the world Pope Paul VI is perhaps best known for his encyclical Humanæ Vitæ (Of Human Life, subtitled On the Regulation of Birth), published on July 25, 1968. In this encyclical he reaffirmed the Catholic Church's traditional condemnation of artificial birth control.
A commission composed of bishops, theologians and laity had been established by John XXIII for the purpose of reviewing the teaching on birth control. In the furor surrounding the publication of the encyclical, stories appeared in the press that it was the commission's majority recommendation that the Church relax its stance on contraception. The Pope chose to discount the so-called "Majority Report" when he promulgated Humanæ Vitæ.
Although this version of events is widely accepted, it hasn't gone unchallenged. For example, in an interview in 2003 with the Catholic news agency Zenit, the natural lawyer and moral theologian Germain Grisez gave a different version of events:

The final report of the commission wasn't one of the documents that were leaked to the press, and, so far as I know, it has never been published. The leaked documents, which were misleadingly labeled, were among the appendices to the final report, and none of them was agreed upon by the majority of the 16 cardinals and bishops who made up the commission after it was restructured in February 1966, although they did approve sending those documents along to Paul VI.... [He] wasn't interested in the number of those who held an opinion but in the cases they made for their views.... Having received the commission's final report, he studied it. After about four months, he announced on Oct. 29, 1966, that he found some aspects of the majority's case to be seriously flawed. He continued studying and concluded that the commission was right in holding that the pill isn't morally different from other methods of contraception. Eventually he became completely convinced that there was no alternative to reaffirming the received teaching. He then took great care preparing the document that was eventually published as Humanæ Vitæ. True, the majority of the theologians, who were then among the periti [experts] advising the cardinals and bishops, had argued that contraception was morally acceptable, and nine of the 16 cardinals and bishops agreed with their position. But virtually all the theologians and all but one of the cardinals and bishops also agreed that the pill wasn't morally different from other contraceptives, which had long been condemned.

Pope Paul was shattered by the widespread negative reaction to the encyclical, and it remained his last. His biography on the Vatican's website notes of his reaffirmations of priestly celibacy and the traditional teaching on contraception that "[t]he controversies over these two pronouncements tended to overshadow the last years of his pontificate". However Pope John Paul II unambiguously reaffirmed both teachings and expanded on Humanæ Vitæ with an encyclical of his own (titled Evangelium Vitae), as well as in a series of 129 talks delivered at his weekly audiences.
The question remains as to why Paul VI would have discounted the Majority Report, if in fact he did. The answer usually given is that the pope had already outraged many clergy and laity by the sweeping changes in liturgy (and to some extent theology) as a result of Vatican II. The encyclical’s position is thus claimed to be a political concession to the conservative elements within the church.

Meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople

Paul was the first pope in centuries to meet the heads of various Eastern Orthodox faiths. Notably, his meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in 1964 in Jerusalem led to rescinding the excommunications of the Great Schism, which took place in 1054.
This was a significant step towards restoring communion between Rome and Constantinople. It produced the Catholic-Orthodox Joint declaration of 1965, which was read out on December 7, 1965, simultaneously at a public meeting of the Second Vatican Council in Rome and at a special ceremony in Istanbul.
The declaration didn't end the schism, but showed a desire for greater reconciliation between the two churches, represented by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I. Nevertheless, not all Orthodox leaders at the time were happy with this Catholic-Orthodox Joint declaration.

Relations with Anglicans

Pope Paul also became the second pope to meet an Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, after the visit of Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher to Pope John XXIII on December 2, 1960. He was a good friend of the Anglican Church, which he described as "our beloved sister Church". Along with Archbishop Ramsey, he encouraged the foundation of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

The Pilgrim Pope

Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit six continents, and was the most travelled pope in history to that time, earning the nickname the Pilgrim Pope. In 1970 he was the target of an assassination attempt at Manila International Airport in the Philippines. The assailant, a Bolivian Surrealist painter named Benjamín Mendoza y Amor Flores, lunged toward Pope Paul with a kris, but was subdued.

Consistories

Pope Paul VI held six consistories between 1965–1977 that raised 143 men to the cardinalate in his fifteen years as pope. They were held on:

February 22, 1965, 27 cardinals
June 26, 1967, 27 cardinals
April 28, 1969, 34 cardinals
March 5, 1973, 30 cardinals
May 24, 1976, 21 cardinals
June 27, 1977, 4 cardinals

Up to and including the current Pope Benedict XVI, all of Pope Paul's successors were created cardinals by him. His immediate successor, Albino Cardinal Luciani, who took the name John Paul I, was created a cardinal in the consistory of March 5, 1973. After John Paul I's 33 day reign, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, created a cardinal in the consistory of June 26, 1967, took the name John Paul II. After the second-longest Papal reign in history, John Paul II died on April 2, 2005. On April 19, 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected to the papacy and took the name Benedict XVI. Ratzinger was created a cardinal in the small four-appointment consistory of June 27, 1977, which ended up being Paul VI's last consistory before his death in August 1978.

Final months and Death

Pope Paul VI left the Vatican to go to the Papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, for the final time on July 14, 1978, uncertain of whether he'd return. While Mass was being said for him near his bedside during the afternoon of August 6, the feast of the Transfiguration, he became agitated, but managed to receive Holy Communion one last time. He soon fell into unconsciousness for four hours and died soon after. The agitation had been a heart attack. Paul VI is buried beneath the floor of Saint Peter's Basilica with the other popes. In his will, he requested to be buried in the "true earth" and therefore, he doesn't have an ornate sarcophagus but an in-ground grave, according to his wishes.

Cause for Beatification

The diocesan process for beatification of Servant of God Paul VI began on May 11, 1993 by Pope John Paul II. The title of Servant of God is the first of four steps toward possible canonization. At the same time, it must be recognized that there's far less popular enthusiasm for Paul's canonization than for that of Pope John XXIII and John Paul II. This is likely due to the unsettled state of his legacy, combined with his own retiring and indecisive nature. Any serious move toward actual canonization, therefore, is likely to lie in the distant future.

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