sign in sign up
<<
Home , Pope Paul VI, Pope Pius XII, The Reverend

LITURGICAL PIONEERS Paul VI (1897 –1978)

Born September 26, 1897, “Praise be to God that the , Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio taken up and advanced by the Council, has Maria Montini grew up in , , in a household of spread throughout the Church and entered into wealth and nobility. the awareness of and people. The choral Giovanni Montini was prayer of the Mystical Body...is reaching and ordained in 1920, and that same year he obtained a doctorate in stirring the , who are consciously Mengeling Photo © Carl F. law. At age twenty-five, becoming a community and experiencing an Montini was assigned to the During his fifteen-year increase in faith and .” Secretariat of State in the Holy papacy (1963 –1978), Paul VI See, with as his first and (Address by Pope Paul VI, September 3, 1969, DOL 47) issued seven , among only foreign diplomatic mission. them: Because of the winter weather’s effect on his health — which had (March 26, 1967) in which he reaffirmed social teach- long been a struggle — Montini returned to , where he ing on economic justice; (June 24, 1967) would continue to work in the Department of State for the next in which he upheld the discipline of celibacy for ; and the thirty years. During this time, he developed a close friendship controversial (July 25, 1968) in which he con- and a trustworthy working relationship with Pope Pius XII. demned the use of artificial and limited sexual In January 1955, as the new of , activity to the confines of marriage. Montini set out to revitalize not only the Church in Milan but Pope Paul VI also worked to change the face of the Vatican. the city as well. In 1958, he was named a cardinal by Pope John He substantially reduced the grandeur of papal ceremony, even XXIII at the pope’s first consistory and was one of his choices donating his to the Basilica of the National Shrine of for the Central Preparatory Commission for the Second the in Washington, D.C. More Vatican Council. important, however, Paul VI made significant changes to the When John XXIII died in the summer of 1963, Montini : he established the Synod of in was elected to the papacy and selected the name “Paul” to signal to serve as the preeminent advisory body to the his intention to be the of an international, rather than pope, he placed bishops (including many from outside Europe) merely a European Church. Visiting six continents during his on curial committees formally filled by cardinals alone, and he papacy, Pope Paul VI was affectionately dubbed “the Pilgrim reduced the overall bureaucratic nature of the Curia. Pope.” His outreach to the was also demonstrated in his It is quite certain that Paul VI knew a great deal of suffering concern for ecumenical relations, as he visited the Orthodox in his ministry as the vicar of Christ. He was a man of firm con- of (1964) and Constantinople (1967) and viction and resolve who sought a middle ground between pro- was the first pope to receive an Anglican archbishop in a private gressives and traditionalists in an age of rapid change and great audience at the Vatican. scientific development. He once said of himself: “What is my state One of Paul VI’s major challenges at the outset of his of mind? Am I ? Or Quixote? On the left? On the papacy was the implementation of liturgical reform. His 1964 right? I do not think I have been properly understood. I am Sacram Liturgiam, which established the first filled with ‘great joy’” (Cathy B. directives for the implementation of , Daly, Steps on My Pilgrim Journey set a positive tone for the project of liturgical reform: “When [Veritas, 1998]). Pope Paul VI the faithful honor God in the liturgy they are attracted, almost died of a heart attack at Castel impelled, towards the source and origin of all holiness and feel Gandolfo, on , 1978, their hearts fill with longing for their real home, the Heavenly the Feast of the Transfiguration. Zion” (The Furrow 15:5 [1964]: 353). Thus, it was clear to He was declared a “Servant of Paul VI that his was the task of teaching the Church a “new God” on May 11, 1993, by Pope method” of praying that called for greater responsibility and John Paul II, and subsequently increased participation on the part of all Catholics. “venerable” by Pope Benedict XVI on December 20, 2012.

The 50th Anniversary of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: A Celebration © 2013 Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. Orders: 1-800-933-1800. Written by Stephen S. Wilbricht, csc, std. This material originally appeared in Pastoral Liturgy® magazine. Imprimatur granted by the Reverend John F. Canary, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Chicago on June 5, 2013.