Late Pope Paul VI to Move Closer to Sainthood

• published: 17 Oct 2014
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Former pope Paul VI who guided the Roman Catholic Church through one of its most turbulent modern periods will be beatified by Pope Francis on October 19. Full Story: The late Pope Paul VI, who led the Roman Catholic Church during one of its most turbulent modern periods and enshrined its opposition to contraception, will move a step closer to sainthood on October 19. Pope Francis, who in April declared saints two of his predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, will beatify Paul, declaring him a "blessed" of the Church during a ceremony at the Vatican. The timing of the ceremony, which will take place at the conclusion of a Vatican synod of bishops from around the world on the theme of the family, means Francis will have either canonised or beatified three of his predecessors in the unusually short space of six months. Paul became pope in 1963 after the death of Pope John XXIII. He guided the Church through the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, which had started under his predecessor, and the implementation of its modernising reforms. Born Giovanni Battista Montini in 1897, he spent much of his career in the Vatican's diplomatic service before becoming cardinal of Milan. Pope Paul headed the Church through the 1960s when many priests left religious orders and vocations to the religious life fell sharply in the turbulent era of social change. He is perhaps best known for his controversial encyclical 'Humane Vitae' (On Human Life), which enshrined the Church's ban on artificial birth control in 1968. Reuters Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella said there is much more to Paul than his stance on contraception. "Paul VI is known primarily for his encyclical 'Humane Vitae' which banned contraception but he was much more than that," Pullella said. "He was a modernising Pope who reigned for 15 years. He reigned during two of the most turbulent decades of the 20th century, the 60s and the 70s. And he decided to continue the Second Vatican Council which John XXIII had started. Had Paul wanted to, he could have not continued the Council but he did which meant that he wanted to continue the work of opening the church up to the modern world," he said. "He was a deep intellectual, he was a very private person, he was sometimes indecisive, he listened to a lot of people before he made his decisions but he was the kind of Pope that laid the groundwork for the type of papacy that came after him, and that is that John Paul II," he added. Beatification is the last step before sainthood. The late pope's move towards canonisation was made possible after the Vatican recognised what it says was a miracle attributed to Paul, who died in 1978. The purported miracle concerns a pregnant woman in California whose unborn child was discovered to be at high risk of dying in the womb or being born with severe birth defects in the 1990s. Doctors advised the woman to have an abortion but, at the advice of a nun, she prayed to the late Pope Paul. The child, now an adult, was born without problems. A Vatican medical committee ruled that the healing was medically inexplicable. Some of the pilgrims walking in the square remembered Paul VI well, but most did not have memories of his papacy. "He was a Pope who did a lot for the world. I think it was a due act by Pope Francis to bring about his beatification," said Giorgio Fiora', a Rome resident. "Frankly I have no memories of him. I am sure he must have done something good for the church and for the world, like those before him and those after him, but I do not know what and I don't remember him," said Deborah Martini, born in 1978. Despite his long reign and relevance, visible traces of Paul VI in St. Peter's square are scarce and hard to find. His image is very rare in the many souvenir shops scattered around the basilica displaying a wealth of pictures of other popes, John Paul II, John XXIII, Francis and to a lesser extent also of the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. After the beatification, a separate miracle would be necessary in order for Paul to become a saint. For more news and videos visit ☛ http://ntd.tv Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision Add us on Facebook ☛ http://on.fb.me/s5KV2C