Every May 29 we celebrate San Pablo VI, the Pontiff who ended the most important ecclesial event of modern times: the Second Vatican Council. Pope San Pablo VI marked a before and after in terms of the defense of life and family, by virtue of his famous encyclical Human life (About human life).
Server of Christ
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
Giovanni Battista Enrico Antono Maria Montini, Pope Pablo VI, was born in Lombardía (Italy) on September 26, 1897. He was the second of the three children of Giorgio Montini -abogado marriage, a journalist, director of the Italian Catholic and Parliamentary Action – and Doña Giudetta Alghisi.
On May 29, 1920, at the age of 22, Giovanni Battista Montini was ordered priest and sent to Rome to complete his training. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University, at the University of Rome La Sapienza and in the Ecclesiastical Pontifical Academy. Once his studies were completed, he was assigned to the Office of the State Secretariat, where he worked for 30 years.
On November 1, 1954, with 57 years of age, Montini was appointed Archbishop of Milan, and a few years later he would be created Cardinal, on December 15, 1958.
In line with the spirit: the council
At the death of Pope San Juan XXIII in 1963, when the Second Vatican Council was still being carried out, Cardinal Montini was summoned to participate in the conclave that would choose the successor of the “Bueno Pope.” The conclave concluded by choosing it as the new successor of Pedro on June 21 of that year.
The newly chosen Pope would take the name of Paul VI. His pontificate brought to fruition the work of “continuity renewal” proposed by Juan XXIII at the beginning of the Council. That is, a renewal that does not mean a break with tradition, and that at the same time implies a look from the gospel for the future. Paul VI knew how to correctly understand the motions of the Holy Spirit and put the Church in tune to face the new times.
He concluded the Second Vatican Council on December 8, 1965.
Magisterium in favor of life and family
He wrote seven encyclicals: His own church (August 6, 1964), MENSE MAY (April 29, 1965), Mystery of faith (September 3, 1965), Christ’s mother (September 15, 1966), Peoples program (March 26, 1967), Priestly celibacy (June 24, 1967) and Human life (July 25, 1968) -especially birth regulation. The latter constitutes a historical milestone having marked the course to follow the Church in terms of the defense of the family, chastity and sexuality, while continuing to promote a real moral and social revolution in an increasingly secularized world.
A PONTIFICE FOR THE NEW TIMES
San Pablo VI also promoted ecumenical dialogue. Some of their gestures of approach to the churches of the East have gone down in history, such as their memorable hug with the patriarch of Constantinople Athenacoras in 1964, and the mutual lifting of excommunions.
In addition, it was he who initiated the era of pontifical trips with visits to countries on the five continents, including a Holy Land and a presentation at the UN Headquarters in New York. It should be noted that, in this effort to bring church members closer, it went through difficult times, such as the one produced in the Philippines in 1970, where he was the target of an attempt to murder.
En el motu proprio Holy church From August 6, 1966, Pope Paul VI established that the bishops should present his resignation to office when he turned 75 years old. This requirement was extended to the cardinals in 1970. It also modified the papal election process, establishing that only the purpurated under 80 years of age can participate in the conclaves. Likewise, in 1969, the Saint enacted the post -conciliar liturgical reform.
Papal legacy
Among other important tasks, Pablo VI celebrated six consistories between 1965 and 1977; He created Cardinals Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) in 1967, Albino Luciani (Juan Pablo I) in 1973 and Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) in 1977.
Pope San Pablo VI died in Castel Gandolfo on August 6, 1978, after a 15 -year pontificate. It was beatified on October 19, 2014 and canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis.
Central writing
The Catholic Agency for Information – ACI PRESS, is part of the news agencies of the ACI group, one of the greatest generators of Catholic news content in five languages and belonging since June 2014 to the family of Ewtn Global Catholic Network, the largest television Catholic chain in the world, founded in 1981 by the Angélica mother in Irondale, Alabama (United States), and that reaches more than 85 million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories.