Paul VI

1897-1978 20th century Feast day: May 29

A lucidity that accepts being alone; dialogue held as the very shape of charity.

Who was Paul VI?

Giovanni Battista Montini, son of a Brescia journalist, spent thirty years in Vatican offices before being sent to Milan, where he went down into the factories and built parishes in the suburbs. Elected pope in 1963, he carried the Council alone to its close, flew to Jerusalem and Bombay, spoke of peace at the United Nations, and took the storm that followed Humanae vitae. He died one August evening at Castel Gandolfo, having pleaded in vain with the kidnappers of Aldo Moro.

In their own words

Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.

Evangelii nuntiandi, no. 41

Development is the new name for peace.

Populorum progressio, no. 87

No more war, war never again.

Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, New York, 4 October 1965