Paul Vi

A thoughtful, highly acclaimed biography of Giovanni Battista Montini, Paul VI, which sheds light on and powerfully underscores the personal and ecclesial sides of a man who brought modernity to the church.

With amazing courage Pope Paul VI faced hardship in his papacy and held steadfast to hope, leading the Church through some of the most turbulent times in recent history. This precious keepsake book underlines his faith, his strength of character in following God's will, and his steady leadership during a formative time for the Church. Compiled on the occasion of his canonization, this pocket-size volume provides readers with an introduction to this often-misunderstood pope whose words and actions have proven to be bold and prophetic for those who wish to follow the way of the Lord. Taken from a wide array of his talks with people from around the world, they highlight what it means to be a disciple today. The compiler, Mary Leonora Wilson, FSP, entered the Daughters of St. Paul on the same day Pope Paul VI was crowned as pontiff. Her special connection and love for the saint is evident in the care taken to choose those words of the holy father's that would most inspire all those who seek God, especially those who face darkness, fear, or seemingly insurmountable odds. With themes on the cross, courage, joy, Mary as Mother, and the Eucharist, readers will be delighted to discover a wealth of wisdom for their own path today. The book also includes a wonderful collection of prayers from the new saint, as well as original prayers from the compiler paired with each meditation, and a brief contemporary biography.

Pope Paul VI was one of the most perceptive and visionary popes in the modern era, foreseeing not just the rise of secularism, but the negative effect it would have on the family and the human soul. Yet despite the tremendous spiritual and theological value of Pope Paul VI’s writings, much has been forgotten, lost in the decades of controversy and dissent — until now. In these pages, Matthew Bunson resurrects the time-tested teachings of Pope Paul VI, showing how his prophetic reflections on modernity are needed in our own age more than ever. Guided by the deep spirituality and approachable theology of Paul VI, you’ll come to understand the root causes of secularism, the risks of globalization, the damage caused by the isolation of young people in the modern world, and why human dignity must be safeguarded in the face of scientific advances. Widely recognized as the first modern pope, Pope Paul VI led the Catholic Church in the wake of the controversies surrounding how to implement and interpret the Second Vatican Council. On one side he battled a reluctant Vatican bureaucracy resistant to authentic reform, while on the other side he guided the faithful in a time of rampant confusion. Bunson also details the graceful and holy way in which Pope Paul VI handled the many dissenting voices raised against the Church’s teachings on contraception, and how he fought for the dignity of the human person as he faced criticism from both the left and the right. Read this book, and you’ll enter into the mind of one of the Church’s newest saints, better prepared not just to defend the teachings of the Church, but to do so in an approachable and holy way.

"Paul VI's genius proved prophetic: he had the courage to stand against the majority, to defend moral discipline, to exercise a 'brake' on the culture, to oppose present and future neo-Malthusianism." — Pope Francis "Of all the paradoxical fallout from the Pill, perhaps the least understood today is this: the most unfashionable, unwanted, and ubiquitously deplored moral teaching on earth is also the most thoroughly vindicated by the accumulation of secular, empirical, post-revolutionary fact. The document in question is of course, Humanae vitae." — Mary Eberstadt, Author, Adam and Eve after the Pill After half a century, how has the teaching of Pope Paul VI on marriage and birth control, presented in his encyclical Humanae vitae (On Human Life), held up? Very well, says philosopher Janet Smith and her colleagues in Why Humanae Vitae Is Still Right. A sequel to Smith's classic Why Humanae Vitae Was Right, this new volume shows how the ethical, theological, spiritual, and sociological case for Paul VI's controversial document remains strong—indeed, how it's in some ways even stronger today, following Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and in light of the problems caused by the sexual revolution. In addition to essays by Dr. Smith herself, the book features contributions by other renowned experts and scholars such as Mary Eberstadt (author of the best-selling Adam and Eve after the Pill), George Weigel, Therese Scarpelli Corey, Michael Waldstein, Christopher West, Obianuju Ekeocha (author of the best-selling Target Africa), Maria Fedoryka, Deborah Savage, Derek Doroski, Angela LaFranchi, William Newton, Joseph Atkinson, Michele M. Schumacher, and Peter Colosi. Why Humanae Vitae Is Still Right includes the Krakow Document composed under the supervision of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (later, Pope John Paul II), which provided research by moral theologians and other experts that helped to shape Humanae vitae to be a more personalistic document.

Following after brilliant authoritarian Pope Pius XII and good-humored Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI seemed hesitant, anxious, even tormented. Yet the impact of his fifteen-year-long papacy was colossal: not a single aspect of Church life was left untouched in the whirlwind of change unleashed by the Ecumenical Council he guided and sought to implement. Who was this man, Giovanni Battista Montini (1897-1978), who so altered the face, the voice, the bearing of Catholicism? Versatile historian Yves Chiron is equal to the challenge of portraying this multifaceted and in many ways enigmatic figure, who was ordained a priest without passing through the seminary and never held a simple parish assignment. Taking advantage of hitherto untapped archival sources and the testimony of numerous witnesses, Chiron builds up a faithful portrait of a figure controversial at every stage of his career: from his anti-fascist activities as university chaplain to his work in the diplomatic corps, which would create tensions with Pius XII; from his heavy years as Archbishop of Milan to his Janus-like role at the Second Vatican Council, when his interventions alternately delighted and devastated both progressives and conservatives; from his intimate involvement in the recasting of the Roman Catholic liturgy to his adamant rejection of contraception, which left him abandoned by bishops and theologians who held the world's willing ear. Paul VI emerges as a pope torn between conflicting interpretations of aggiornamento and overwhelmed by crises in the Church as he tried to reconcile fundamental principles of dogma with pressures from modernist reformers.

Pope Paul VI (1963-78) was one of the most important and influential pontiffs of the twentieth century. In this engaging biography, Michael Collins examines this deeply spiritual man who is remembered as a reformer, evangelizer, and pilgrim. Pope Paul’s pontificate was marked by an unprecedented series of international journeys, establishing a practice that his successors developed even further. These brought him face-to-face with modern life throughout the globe and the challenge of making the Christian message relevant in a secular world. Paul VI is regarded for his efforts to reduce poverty in the developing world, bolster the church’s rejection of artificial birth control, and foster better relations between Catholics and Orthodox and Reformed Christians. He was beatified in 2014 by Pope Francis.