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Australia and the Popes
Pope Paul VI : 1963-1978
The "first modern pope":
Pope Paul VI was described by his biographer, Peter Hebblethwaite, as "the
first modern Pope". Given the birth name Giovanni Battista Enrico
Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978), Paul
VI reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as sovereign of Vatican City from
1963 to 1978. Succeeding John XXIII who had called the Second Vatican Council,
he presided over the majority of its sessions and oversaw the implementation
of its decrees.
Sadly his pontificate has not been remembered so much for the positive things
he achieved but for the controversy generated by his last encyclical, Humanae
Vitae, which even Pope John Paul II — who was a great supporter
of the essential message behind Humanae Vitae — is reported to have
believed was "a pastoral and catechetical failure" according to his
biographer, George Weigel.
Pope Paul himself seemed shattered by the reaction to the encyclical, and it
would become his last. His biography on the Vatican's website notes of his reaffirmations
of priestly celibacy and the ban on contraception that "[t]he controversies
over these two pronouncements tended to overshadow the last years of his pontificate".
The Wikipedia links below provide further exposition of the controversies aroused
by Humanae Vitae (24 July 1968) and Sacerdotalis Caelibatus
(24 June 1967).
Continued on next page... >>
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The textual material on these pages was sourced from a large number of places all of which can be found through the links on each page. The material was researched, assembled and produced by Brian Coyne for Catholic Australia. The images used in the Flash animations are in the public domain. Other images used are in the public domain or sourced from the webpages to which they are linked.
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