Blessed Pope Paul VI

Giovanni Battista Montini is the 4th Pope to be canonized from the 20th century and will be elevated to sainthood on Sunday, October 14, along with Archbishop Oscar Romero. I treasure a photo I have with him kissing his ring as an altar-boy at the Vatican in 1966. His liturgical feast will be celebrated on this day, the day he was born.

Born in Concesio, near Brescia on September 26, 1897, from a well-respected family, his father was in the Italian parliament and two other brothers were a doctor and a lawyer. He studied at the Brescia Seminary and was ordained on May 29, 1920. Montini started working at the Vatican Secretary of State office and has never worked in a parish atmosphere. He was very much admired by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII,) and was his secretary for many years.

He used to take care of much of the correspondence of the office and helped many refugees of the war by finding a place for them. Around 15,000 of them were given shelter in Castelgandolfo, besides many others that were hidden at the Vatican and around Rome. This led Mussolini to criticize Pius XII as well as Montini saying that he pokes his nose where he shouldn’t.

In 1954 Montini was made Archbishop of Milan with 1000 parishes and 2,500 priests and 3 and a half million Catholics, possibly the largest Archdiocese in the world. He was very beloved and probably would have been elected Pope in 1958, but was not made a Cardinal yet. But Pope John XXIII elevated him to a Cardinal right away after his election and was close to him when St John XXIII started the Vatican Council in 1962. When he died, Montini was elected Pope with the name of Paul VI, and one of his main duties was to finish the work of Vatican Council II. He also did many other reforms at the Roman Curia, like eliminating many Vatican soldiers and keeping only the Swiss Guards. He traveled outside Rome and was very influential in many ecumenical projects. Among the most famous encyclicals were Populorum Progressio, Mysterium Fidei, and Humanae Vitae on birth control and procreation. Paul VI died of a heart attack on August 6, 1978. The process of canonization was started in 1993, and he was beatified in 2014.