- Giovanni Battista Montini Son of a prominent newspaper editor.
Ordained in Brescia, Italy on 29 May 1920, he continued his
studies in Rome, Italy, and became part of the Vatican
secretariat of state in 1922. One of two pro-secretaries to Pope
Pius XII. Archbishop of Milan from 1954 to 1963 where he worked
on social problems and to improve relations between workers and
employers. Created cardinal-priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino
ai Monti on 15 December 1958. Elected 262nd Pope in 1963. As
Pope, Paul continued the reforms of John XXIII. He re-convened
the Second Vatican Council, and supervised implementations of
many of its reforms, such as the vernacularization and reform of
the liturgy. He instituted an international synod of bishops;
bishops were instructed to set up councils of priests in their
own dioceses. Powers of dispensation devolved from the Roman
Curia onto the bishops, rules on fasting and abstinence were
relaxed, and some restrictions on inter-marriage were lifted. A
commission to revise cano