Paul VI
Giovanni Battista Montini, archbishop of Milan, was elected pope in June 1963. He carried the Second Vatican Council to its close, joined the patriarch of Constantinople in lifting the anathemas of 1054, and signed a common confession of Christ with the Coptic pope.
Giovanni Battista Montini was born at Concesio, near Brescia, on 26 September 1897 and ordained priest in 1920. He served in the Vatican Secretariat of State under Pius XI and Pius XII and became archbishop of Milan in 1954. He was elected pope on 21 June 1963 and died at Castel Gandolfo on 6 August 1978 (Holy See, biographical profile of Paul VI).
He continued the council that John XXIII had opened and closed it on 8 December 1965 (Paul VI, In Spiritu Sancto (8 December 1965)); see the Second Vatican Council. He met the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem in January 1964 (Paul VI and Athenagoras I, Joint Communiqué (6 January 1964), paragraphs 1–2), and on 7 December 1965 the two removed the excommunications of 1054 from the memory of the church (Joint Catholic–Orthodox Declaration (1965) 4); see Rome and Constantinople Lift the Anathemas of 1054. In August 1968 he opened the conference of Latin American bishops in Bogotá, on what he called the first visit of a pope to Latin America (Paul VI, Homily at Bogotá (24 August 1968), opening paragraphs); see Medellín and Liberation Theology. In May 1973 he and Shenouda III signed a common confession of faith in Christ (Paul VI and Shenouda III, Common Declaration (1973), paragraph 3); see Ancient Christological Divisions Are Addressed. Pope Francis canonised him on 14 October 2018 (Holy See, biographical profile of Paul VI).
In the timeline
- 1962 to 1965, firm dateThe Second Vatican Council
From 1962 to 1965 the Catholic bishops of the world meet in St Peter’s. Called by John XXIII and concluded by Paul VI, the council issues texts on the liturgy, the church, revelation, religious freedom, other Christians and the Jewish people.
- 7 December 1965, firm dateRome and Constantinople Lift the Anathemas of 1054
On 7 December 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I declare together that they regret the excommunications exchanged in 1054 and remove them from the memory of the church. The act does not restore communion between the two churches.
- 24 August 1968, firm dateMedellín and Liberation Theology
In 1968 the Catholic bishops of Latin America apply the Second Vatican Council to a continent of mass poverty and speak of liberation. Gustavo Gutiérrez builds a theology on that word, and Rome answers with a warning in 1984 and a positive statement in 1986.
- 25 July 1968, firm dateHumanae Vitae
In an encyclical of 25 July 1968 Paul VI teaches that every marital act must keep its relation to procreation and excludes any act meant to prevent it. The Lambeth Conference disagrees; Canada’s Catholic bishops say some Catholics find parts of it hard or impossible to accept.
- 1973 to 1994, firm dateAncient Christological Divisions Are Addressed
Between 1973 and 1994 Rome signs common statements of faith in Christ with the Coptic pope and with the patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox delegates agree two statements of their own. None of them restores communion.