VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Paul VI, who guided the Catholic Church
through a tumultuous period of change in the 1960s and 70s, took
a crucial first step toward possible sainthood when Pope
Benedict XVI on Thursday (Dec. 20) recognized his predecessor’s
“heroic virtues.” A painting of Pope Paul VI, who issued the
Humanae Vitae encycical in 1968, at the Casa Santa Maria
dell’Umilta of the Pontifical North American College, Rome.
Religion News Service file photo by Rene Shaw. Paul VI is now
considered “venerable” in the Catholic Church, and needs the
Vatican to recognize a miracle due to his intercession in order
to be beatified, or declared “blessed.” A second miracle would
then elevate him to sainthood. Giovanni Battista Montini
(1897-1978) was elected to the papacy with the name of Paul VI
in 1963. He oversaw the implementation of the modernizing
reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). A top Vatican
official and archbishop of Milan before becoming pope, Montini
is also famous for the 1968 publication