Pope Paul VI - Religious figure

He steered the Catholic Church through its most disruptive modernization in centuries, closing Vatican II and executing reforms that reshaped liturgy, ecumenism, and doctrine - then drew a global line on birth control that still reverberates.

Religious Figures Writer / Author Religion Italy Europe 20th Century

A life in dates

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Feast day, 26 September.26 September 2025What this moment rests on, 4.1 times the usual readers on 26 September 2026See the moment4.5×Feast day, 29 May.29 May 2026What this moment rests on, 4.5 times the usual readers on 29 May 2026See the moment1978Died6 August 19781975“it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons.”In their words30 November 1975Letter from to Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 30 November 1975. Quoted by Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 22 May 1994Read the whole statement

1968“The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator.”In their wordsHUMANAE VITAE tradendae munus gravissimum, ex quo coniuges liberam et consciam Deo Creatori tribuunt operam, magnis semper ipsos affecitRead the whole statement

“No member of the faithful could possibly deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the natural moral law”In their wordsNemo sane christifidelium eat infitias, ad Ecclesiae Magisterium interpretationem legis moralis naturalis spectare.Read the whole statement

“Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death.”In their wordsAd hoc, coniugalis amor et fidelis et exclusorius est, usque ad vitae extremum;Read the whole statement

“With regard to man's innate drives and emotions, responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must exert control over them.”In their wordsSi deinde ad impulsus innatos et ad animi affectus spectamus, paternitas conscia necessariam declarat dominationem, quam ratio et voluntasRead the whole statement

1963“The post is unique. It brings great solitude. I was solitary before, but now my solitariness becomes complete and awesome. Hence the dizziness, the vertigo.”In their words5 August 1963Private note, 5 August 1963. Quoted in Peter Hebblethwaite, Paul VI: The first modern pope (London, 1993), p. 339Read the whole statement

1958CardinalOffice1958-19631954Roman Catholic Archbishop of MilanOffice1954-19631953Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian RepublicAward1897Born26 September 1897

Photos 8

Paulus VI, by Fotografia Felici, 1969

Andrzej Maria Deskur avec Paul VI en 1974

Bula de Criação da Diocese de Campo Maior

Buon Pastore (Ospitaletto, Cormano) - consecration plaque

Cardinali Montini e Siri

Chiaravalle, memoria del restauro del chiostro (1958) LU03033

Commemorative Tablet of Catholic-Orthodox Prayer on Saint Peter's Basilica

Dom Probostwa św. Aleksandra ul. Książęca 2018c

In their own words 9

Pope Paul VI

9 statements, newest first

it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons.
Nov 30, 1975, Letter from to Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 30 November 1975. Quoted by Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 22 May 1994, Own words
It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.
Jun 29, 1972, Homily, 29 June 1972. Quoted in William O'Connor: Opus Dei: an Open Book (1991), pg 55., Own words
The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator.
1968, HUMANAE VITAE tradendae munus gravissimum, ex quo coniuges liberam et consciam Deo Creatori tribuunt operam, magnis semper ipsos affecit, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic1953

Order of St. Gregory the Great

Order of Pius IX

Order of the Golden Spur

Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic

Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III

Order of Charles III

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Silver medal of Merit Croce Rossa Italiana

Family

Father Giorgio Montini

Pope Paul VI

Sibling Lodovico Montini

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About this person

Born Giovanni Battista Montini in Concesio in 1897, he spent three decades in the Vatican's diplomatic corps, becoming the indispensable advisor to Pius XII before being named Archbishop of Milan in 1954. Elevated to cardinal in 1958, he was elected pope in 1963 with near-unanimous support and immediately reconvened the suspended Second Vatican Council, closing it in 1965 and spending the rest of his papacy implementing its sweeping reforms against conflicting pressures within the Church. He became the first pope in over a century to leave Italy, flying to Jordan in 1964, and pushed for wealth redistribution from the developed world to the Third World. His 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, rejecting artificial contraception, became one of the most contested documents in modern Catholic history. He died in 1978 and was canonized forty years later.

Country

Italy

In common with Pope

Enzo JannacciAlso in The Audience (1972)

Marco FerreriAlso in The Audience (1972)

Alain CunyAlso in The Audience (1972)

Giuliano GoziBoth received Silver medal of Merit Croce Rossa Italiana

Religious Figures from Italy 2

Pope John Paul I77.3

Pope Pius XII76.3

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