Pope Paul VI
Paul VI, pope of Roman Catholic Church (1963-1978), was born Giovanni Battista Montini in 1897 in Sarezzo, in northern Italy, from a family of the local nobles.
He was ordained priest in 1920, and during the war he became one of closest secretaries of Pope Pius XII. He had a never completely cleared role in most of the diplomatic activities of the Vatican during the conflict, notably with repeated contacts with Count Galeazzo Ciano, fascist minister of Foreign affairs and son-in-law of Mussolini. Montini has been suspected of having obtained from the Fascists, at the beginning of the war, some promises of uncleared advantages for the Vatican, in exchange of its eventual support.
About those events, and the suspicion of secret treaties between the Vatican and Nazi Germany, later focused on the figure of Pius XII, Montini held a polemic position against Rolf Hochhuth, who wrote a historical drama ("Der Stellvertreter") in which he advanced this terrible hypothesis.
In reality, Montini had deep contacts with all the parties in conflict and developed an activity in diplomacy that has been defined as one of the most complex of all the Vatican history. He also enlaced relationships with the Jewish community (for which he procured a huge amount of money, to sustain them in times of persecution), but at the same time he has been accused of having protected Nazi officers in their escape. Formally a simple administrative employee of the Vatican government, but effectively the closest supporter of Pius XII, he has often been recognised as one of the greatest political figures of the period. No official confirmations do exist, but really many voices indicated him as the one who had created a concrete mediation (supposedly together with Alcide De Gasperi) in the famous attempts of the princess Maria José (daughter-in-law of the King of Italy) in order to find a separate peace for Italy with the United States; the princess wasn't able to meet Myron Taylor, a Roosevelt's special representative in Vatican, and no one knows if Montini was not able to organise this meeting or didn't want to.
Pius XII appointed him archbishop of Milan (1953-1963), but, although archbishops of famous sees like Milan are traditionally cardinals, Montini was not made cardinal by Pius XII (and was thus virtually excluded from becoming pope at the latter's death).
He was then appointed cardinal by Pope John XXIII in 1958.
Having in the past supported John XXIII's project (in opposition to many other cardinals), Paul VI brought the Second Vatican Council to completion in 1965 and directed the implementation of its directives until his death in 1978.
He promulgated the encyclical Humanae vitae, "Of Human Life," in 1968, restating the Catholic Church's position on artificial birth control.
A few months before his death, he celebrated the solemn funeral of Aldo Moro (after his murder by Red Brigades), who had sent him a famous letter from his prison. Moro and Montini had been together in the FUCI, a catholic association for university students, many years before, and in time had become perhaps the two most important catholic figures in Italy.
- preceded by Pope John XXIII (1958-1963)
- succeeded by Pope John Paul I (1978)
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