Blessed Paul VI summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see St. Paul VI.

Blessed Paul VI, orig. Giovanni Battista Montini, (born Sept. 26, 1897, Concesio, near Brescia, Italy—died Aug. 6, 1978, Castel Gandolfo; beatified Oct. 19, 2014; feast day September 26), Pope (1963–78). Educated at Brescia and ordained in 1920, he continued his studies in Rome, earning degrees in civil and canon law. He was a church diplomat for much of his career, until he was named archbishop of Milan in 1954. He became a cardinal in 1958, and in 1963 he was elected pope. Paul VI presided over the final sessions of the Second Vatican Council and appointed commissions to carry out its reforms, including revisions in the mass. He also relaxed rules on fasting, removed a number of questionable saints from the church’s calendar, and enforced conservative positions on birth control and clerical celibacy. He promoted ecumenism and was the first pope to travel widely, visiting Israel, India, Asia, and Latin America. In 2012 Pope Benedict XVI declared that Paul had lived “a life of heroic virtue.” Two years later he was beatified by Francis I.

Roman Catholicism Summary

Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity. It is led by the pope, as the bishop of Rome, and the Holy See forms the

Christianity Summary

Christianity, major religion stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century ce. It has become the largest of the world’s religions and, geographically, the most widely diffused of all faiths. It has a constituency of

saint Summary

Saint, holy person, believed to have a special relationship to the sacred as well as moral perfection or exceptional teaching abilities. The phenomenon is widespread in the religions of the world, both ancient and contemporary. Various types of religious personages have been recognized as saints,

Second Vatican Council Summary

Second Vatican Council, (1962–65), 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, announced by Pope John XXIII on January 25, 1959, as a means of spiritual renewal for the church and as an occasion for Christians separated from Rome to join in a search for Christian unity. Preparatory