The church honors today one of the recently-canonized saints, Pope Paul VI. Born as Giovanni Battista Montini on September 26, 1897 in Concesio, Italy, he was ordained priest on May 29, 1920, consecrated Bishop on December 12, 1954 and made a Cardinal on December 15, 1958. He succeeded St John XXIII as Pope on June 21, 1963. He spent most of his life in administrative work, being secretary to Pope Pius XII, an as Cardinal he was to lead Milan, one of the largest Archdiocese in the world. As successor of John XXIII he was to finish the Second Vatican Council and see to the implementation of many of the documents signed by the over 2200 bishops gathered in Rome. He was one of the modern Popes to travel outside Italy. He was canonized on October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis at the Vatican.
I was honored
to be in Pope Paul VI’s presence in 1966 as an altar-boy chosen to serve at the
Vatican. In the audience we had with the Pope, I kissed the ring of the Supreme
Pontiff and a photographer snapped a photo which I will treasure forever. Archbishop
Gonzi of Malta happened to be present at the audience also. Out of 25 altar-servers only me and
another boy had our picture taken in such a historic and memorable moment. In
the audience he told us that whenever we became pastors to go to visit him
again. Sadly he passed away in 1978, just a few months after
my ordination.
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