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PAGE 2—The Georgia Bulletin, August 9,1978
Paul VI
BY NC NEWS SERVICE
He described himself as an “apostle
of peace,” but Pope Paul VI knew
scarcely a peaceful day in more than 15
years as head of the world’s 700 million
Catholics.
Called to the papacy in 1963 to
succeed the universally popular Pope
John XXIII, Giovanni Battista Montini
faced a Church and a world
experiencing a period of self-criticism
and upheaval. His years as Pope were
most notably marked by the Second
Vatican Council - its hopes, reforms
and crises.
He presided over three of the four
annual sessions of that major event in
the history of the Catholic Church. The
remainder of his reign was in great part
dedicated to carrying out the council’s
program of renewal and reform.
At the same time, Pope Paul was
faced with the not always appreciated
challenge of preserving unity within the
Church while avoiding, when possible,
ruptures or head-on collisions which at
times seemed about to swamp the
barque of Peter.
An essentially reserved and
reflective man who was trained as a
Church diplomat and Vatican
administrator, Pope Paul lived out his
papacy in an atmosphere of public and
often bitter debate over sexual morals in
the 20th century, the validity of the
Church’s traditional teachings, and the
relevancy of the Church to modem
man.
Within the Church his pontificate
saw priests and Religious leaving their
ministries in unprecedented numbers in
the postconciliar turmoil. It witnessed
widespread organization of priests,
Religious and laity into pressure groups
fighting for or against changes,
particularly in the areas of liturgy and
of Church law and administration. It
witnessed theological ferment to a
degree not seen for centuries - a
ferment that was both a sign of vitality
and a source of serious confusion and
sometimes bitter dispute over doctrine.
In the world at large Pope Paul saw,
and frequently spoke out against, a
continuing world arms buildup, the
starvation of millions in poor countries
while the rich countries gained more
wealth, and a worldwide pro-abortion
movement that resulted in liberalized
abortion laws in many countries. He saw
open warfare in Vietnam, Israel and
Lebanon, a rise in international
terrorism, guerrilla warfare in many
countries, and repression of civil and
human rights by many governments.
On the other hand, he also saw the
church side increasingly with the poor
and oppressed in many countries where
it was once identified with the rich and
powerful, especially throughout Latin
America - to the point where, by the
end of his reign, the Catholic Church
was recognized around the world, as a
major opponent not only of private
immorality but of all forms of social or
institutional sin.
Under him the Catholic Church
made sweeping ecumenical advances and
unprecedented progress in religious
relations with Jews, Moslems, and other
non-Christian religions.
A deeply spiritual man, he was
heartened by the spiritual outpouring of
the 1975 Holy Year, by signs he saw of
new spiritual yearnings among youth,
by the renewed prayer life exhibited in
the Catholic charismatic movement and
small prayer groups. The complete
revision of all liturgical texts - the heart
of the church’s prayer life - was one of
his greatest accomplishments. It was a
source of joy to him but also of some of
his deepest anguish as he repeatedly
repudiated both unauthorized changes
and hardline resistance to reforms.
Pope Paul preferred solitude and
quiet, but he chose to travel the whole
world in the early years of his reign to
proclaim the church’s message. As
arthritis and age forced an end to his
international pilgrimages, he still greeted
thousands every week in his Wednesday
general audiences and on Sundays at his
noontime Angelus talks.
The papacy as well as his much
publicized journeys took him far from
the small farming community in which
he was bom in 1897.
The future pope was born at
Concesio, a farm town outside of the
northern Italian city of Brescia, where
the Montini family had lived since the
15th century. Born on Sept. 26, 1897,
the baby was baptized four days later
Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria
Montini.
Frail from birth, Giovanni was very
studious and pious as a child, somewhat
reserved and with very few contacts
among children of his own age. His
father, trained as a lawyer, was editor of
the Catholic newspaper II Cittadino di
Brescia. The young Montini grew up in a
household immersed in the battles of
Catholics of the day to re-enter the
mainstream of Italy’s political life, from
which they had been cut off since the
fall of Rome and the establishment of
the Kingdom of Italy in 1870.
1
MEMORABLE EVENTS -- Cardinal Alfredo event in the life of Pope Paul VI, the conclusion of the
Ottaviani crowns Giovanni Battista Montini as Pope Second Vatican Council, begun by Pope John XXIII.
Paul VI (left photo). At right, on Dec. 8, 1965, a (NC Photo)
throng fills St. Peter’s square for another memorable
Finishing his preparatory education
in 1916, Montini was accepted as a
seminarian by the bishop of Brescia but
was allowed to live at home because of
poor health. A brilliant student with a
flair for languages, he was ordained on
May 29, 1920, in Brescia. Six months
after ordination, Father Montini was
sent to Rome for graduate studies.
In 1922, he was selected to attend
the Pontifical Academy for Noble
Ecclesiastics, the Holy See’s training
school for its diplomatic service. A year
later Pope Pius XI called him from his
studies and named him the junior man
at the papal nunciature in Warsaw.
Recalled to Rome in November of the
same year because of his health, he
continued his studies in canon law at
the Gregorian University and his courses
at the Pontifical Academy.
The following year, 1924, marked
the entrance of Father Montini on his
Church career in Rome when Pius XI
named him as an official of the Vatican
Secretariat of State. In the subsequent
years, he slowly moved up the ladder of
promotions inside the secretariat. At the
same time he was active in chaplain’s
work with the Catholic Italian
Federation of University Students,
which aimed at training university
students in state schools to meet the
challenges of the Fascist university
movement.
In December, 1937, Msgr. Montini
was named undersecretary of state for
ordinary affairs, thereby becoming a
close associate of Cardinal Eugenio
Pacelli, the papal secretary of state who
became Pope Pius XII in 1939.
Msgr. Montini worked at the side of
Pius XII throughout the years of World
War II and the reconstruction period.
These years in the heart of the
Secretariat of State and under the
demanding tutelage of Pius XII were
probably the most formative of his life.
At the center of a worldwide network
of information and diplomatic activity,
the future Pope was trained as an
influencer of policy, a mitigator of
tragedy and a strong believer in the
power of the diplomatic arts.
During World War II, in addition to
his direct diplomatic contacts with
belligerent nations on both sides, Msgr.
Montini was charged with the
responsibility of organizing and
directing the Holy See’s program to
relieve suffering and war damage. He set
up the Vatican information bureau
which gathered names of prisoners of
war on all fronts and forwarded news to
despairing families.
He oversaw programs to locate
displaced families, bring relief supplies
of foods and medicine to suffering
populations. He threw open church
buildings and colleges, including parts of
the papal villa at Castelgandolfo, to
house war refugees and find means of
escape from Europe for intended
victims of Nazi and Fascist persecution.
In the immediate postwar years he
was again at the side of Pius XII in the
work of reconstucting the church and
the devastated countries of Europe.
Msgr. Montini was appointed to oversee
preparations for the Holy Year of 1950.
Pope Pius revealed in 1952 that he had
asked both Msgr. Montini and his close
associate in the secretariat, Msgr.
Domenico Tardini, to accept the
cardinalate but that they both refused.
The Pope then named the two
pro-secretaries of state.
After 30 years service in the
Secretariat of State, Msgr. Montini was
named, much to the surprise of many,
archbishop of Milan. The Nov. 1, 1954,
appointment came as a surpirse because
most Vatican officials had expected him
to be named to a high Vatican post,
although in truth, there were few posts
of greater influence than pro-secretary
of state.
Ordained a bishop in St. Peter’s
Basilica on Dec. 12, 1954, Archbishop
Montini spent the next eight and a half
years building, restoring and
reorganizing Milan, the largest
archdiocese in Italy. During his years in
the northern Italian industrial capital.
Archbishop Montini made pastoral visits
to 694 parishes and blessed or
consecrated 72 churches. Another 19
were under construction when he left
Milan.
Archbishop Montini tried very hard
to make the church part of the intimate
life of his archdiocese, which had been
badly damaged by war and suffered
from an enormous influx of immigrants
looking for work in the postwar period.
He styled himself as “Archbishop of the
Workers” and preached the social
message of the Gospel in factories,
mines and offices, wherever he thought
he could make direct contact with the
working man, who had largely become
estranged from the church.
In 1957, he mounted a highly
organized “Mission of Milan” aimed at
reaching fallen-away Catholics, many of
whom had come under the influence of
the Communist Party.
When Pope Pius XII died in 1958,
many thought that Archbishop Montini,
although not a cardinal, might be
chosen as the next pope. However, the
f
choice fell on Cardinal Angelo Roncalli,
patriarch of Venice, who became Pope
John XXIII. Among the new pope’s first
acts was the creation of 23 new
cardinals in December, 1958.
Archbishop Montini led the list of
names, which also included his
long-time coworker in the State
Secretariat, Msgr. Tardini.
Two years later Cardinal Montini
visited the United States for the second
time. The first was in 1951, while he
was still a monsignor. The 1960 trip also
took him to Brazil. In 1962, his travels
took him to Ghana, Upper Volta,
Nigeria and Southern Rhodesia. These
visits proved to be only a taste of what
was to come in the first years of his
reign, when he would become known to
many as the “pilgrim pope.”
With the death of Pope John,
Cardinal Montini was widely considered
the most likely to be elected pope. Like
his former mentor, Pope Pius XII,
Cardinal Montini walked into the
conclave on June 19, 1963, as the
leading candidate - and indeed emerged
two days later as pope. Taking the name
Paul, in honor of his life-time devotion
to the missionary apostle, the new pope
was crowned on June 30.
From the outset, Pope Paul’s
pontificate was shaped by the Second
Vatican Council.
Before his death Pope John, who
had called the council, presided over its
first session. This produced no final
documents, but it set the tone for all
that followed.
Pope Paul’s first pledge as pope was
to see the council he inherited to its
completion and implementation
throughout the universal church.
This ecumenical (all-church)
council, the 21st in history and the first
in nearly a century, met for four
sessions between 1962 and 1965. Pope
Paul presided over the final three, which
brought with them a new thrust and a
wave of renewal that affected the life of
every Catholic.
Throughout his years as pope, Paul
VI strove carefully to carry out the
council’s decrees, to renew many
aspects of the church’s life without
isolating or driving into schism various
groups of Catholics who objected to
decisions of the council. His efforts, not
always successful, continued throughout
his reign.
During the second session - Sept.
29, to Dec. 4, 1963 - the “Constitution
on Liturgy” and the “Decree on Social
Communications” were promulgated.
The next year, during its meetings from
Sept. 14 to Nov. 21, the council
promulgated the “Constitution on the
Church,” the “Decree on Ecumenism”
and the “Decree on the Eastern
Churches.”
At the fourth and last session of the
council, Sept. 14 - Dec. 8, 1965, the
great bulk of its labors reached their
fruition. That session saw the
promulgation of a historic “Declaration
on Religious Liberty,” the “Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation,” and
the “Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modem World.” It also
marked the issuance of seven council
decrees: on the pastoral office of
bishops, on Christian education, on
religious life, on priestly life and
ministry, on priestly formation, on the
lay apostolate, and on the church’s
missionary activity.
This enormous mass of guidelines,
decrees, suggestions and pastoral
teaching constituted for the remainder
of Pope Paul’s reign a matrix around
which he began the task of renewing
and reforming the church.
At the last working session, Dec. 7,
1965, Pope Paul summed up the
council’s thrust and intent. Through the
council, he said, the church has
“declared herself the servant of
humanity at the very time when her
teaching role and her pastoral
government have, by reason of the
council’s solemnity, assured greater
splendor and vigor; the idea of service
has been central.”
After the more than 2,000 Council
Fathers celebrated its closing on the
feast of the Immaculate Conception in
St. Peter’s Square, Pope Paul was left
with its implementation and
incorporation into the daily life of the
universal church.
To accomplish this, he immediately
established a number of postconciliar
commissions and a variety of new
Vatican offices.
Before the council, some thought
that one of its effects would be a
reduction in the number of offices in
the church’s central administration, the
Roman Curia. In fact, the reverse
occurred.
Immediate and long-range results of
the council sanctioned and encouraged
by Pope Paul included:
- The rise in importance in the
national and regional conferences of
bishops.
- The periodic convening of the
world Synod of Bishops, aimed at
associating the pope more closely with
his brother bishops in consultation and
discussion of major church problems.
- The wide-reaching reform of the
Roman Curia itself, with a new stress on
its role of service to the whole church
and a major effort to give it a more
international perspective by drawing its
officials and consultors from all over the
world.
- The dismantling of the papal
court and the attempt to bring the
church as a whole more directly into
contact with daily problems of poverty,
development and the fast-moving
changes of modem times.
- A complete revision of all
liturgical texts, and their translation and
use in many languages throughout the
world.
Renewed emphasis on the
pastoral role of bishops in their own
dioceses, and greater pastoral authority
at the local level.
- Broader consultation with priests,
Religious and laity in parish and
diocesan decision-making.
- A thorough revision of the Code
of Canon Law - the general laws of the
Church - for both the Eastern and Latin
churches (a project not yet completed
when Pope Paul died).
- Formal consultation and informal
dialogue at the international, national
and local levels between Catholics and
non-Catholics - Orthodox, Anglicans,
Protestants, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists,
Hindus, and even non-believers such as
humanists and Marxists.
- Revitalization of ministries, both
ordained and unordained, including the
reinstitution of the permanent
diaconate and establishment of new lay
ministries.
- A new depth of involvement by
the church in the world as a public
advocate of human rights and of more
humanizing social, political, and
economic policies.
- New sensitivity to cultural
pluralism within the church, bringing an
end to some of the close identifications
that were being made between
Christianity and what many Third
World countries consider Western
cultural imperialism.
To stress the international and
universal character of the church, Pope
Paul created more cardinals - 137 in his
reign - than any pope in history. His
choices ranged far beyond the
established and ancient metropolitan
centers which long have had claims to a
cardinal, to include such places as the
tiny Pacific atoll of Western Samoa and
the island of Puerto Rico. Through the
naming of both cardinals and bishops
Pope Paul carried out a strong policy of
promoting native clergy in many
territories long dominated by a
missionary hierarchy.
The pope also simplified the
ceremonies surrounding the creation of
cardinals to stress the religious character
of the papal honor and to play down
the pomp and the princely character
long associated with the College of
Cardinals.
Much to the dismay of some elderly
cardinals, he ruled that no cardinal over
the age of 80 might hold a working
position in the Roman Curia or take
part in the election of a pope. He also
required bishops to submit resignations
from their dioceses at 75 years of age,
although these were not always
accepted immediately. Earlier
resignations for health reasons also
became far more common.
Pope Paul also decreed that the
number of cardinals who might take
part in the next conclave could not
exceed 120. And he indicated at times
that he was thinking of adding bishops
from various parts of the world,
including top prelates of the Eastern
churches, to those who would choose
the next pope.
The pope’s aversion to pomp and to
the showy trappings of the temporal
rulers which the popes once were
became obvious after his election.
Catholics from his former archdiocese
sent him a bullet-shaped tiara of modem
design for his coronation - which he
dutifully wore once and then gave away
to the poor.
Never again did he wear any of the
papal triple crowns. Pope Paul preferred
the bishop’s miter and a crucifix-crozier,
to stress his pastoral and religious role.
He swept away the papal court, the
fancy dress of cape and sword, the titles
and pride of place in processions and
the papal apartments. He disbanded the
Noble Guards as well as the more
middle class Palatine Guards and the
Pontifical Gendarmes. The famous
ostrich-plumed fans which used to
accompany the popes on major
ceremonies were consigned to history’s
closet.
Marking the 15th anniversary of his
papal election in June, 1978, Pope Paul
declared as one of the major
achievements of the 20th-century
papacy the abandonment of “the
worldly veils which once covered the
church’s regal face, to permit her poor
and neglected face, stripped of every
artificial ornament, to shine forth in its
original radiance.”
The reduction of the papal court
was matched by Pope Paul’s decision to
reform and reorganize the Roman Curia.
While defending its officials and
functions as his principal means of
governing the universal church, he was
determined to mold it into an
organization designed to act not only as
an executive arm of the pope but also to
be at the service of the church’s bishops
and faithful.
Major reforms of the Roman Curia
were decreed by the document
“Regimini Ecclesiae Universae” (“For
the Rule of the Universal Church”) in
August, 1967. It was the first major
overhaul of the Vatican’s administrative
offices since the reign of Pope St. Pius X
half a century earlier.
Even before the reform decree,
Pope Paul began changing the Curia
substantially in response to the council
by reforming the old congregation of
the Holy Office. Changing its name to
the Doctrinal Congregation, Pope Paul,
just on the eve of the council’s
conclusion in 1965, issued a document
aimed at changing the tone and
approach of the powerful and often
feared congregation.
Recalling that the congregation had
been founded to defend faith and
morals in 1542 with the title of the
Sacred Congregation of Roman and
Universal Inquisition, Pope Paul set the
tone of his reform by saying: “Since
charity banishes fear, it seems more
appropriate now to preserve the faith by
means of an office for promoting
doctrine.
“Although it will still correct errors
and gently recall those in error to moral
excellence, new emphasis is to be given
to preaching the Gospel.”
In 1969 the pope created a
theological commission to assist himself
and the Doctrinal Congregation in
studying theological developments and
trends. To assure the papacy of a wider
— and not merely the Roman — view of
theological questions, Pope Paul named
30 scholars of international repute to
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