Pope Paul VI's greatness lies in his church leadership after Vatican II
Pope Paul VI's greatness lies in his church leadership after Vatican II
by Michael Sean Winters
Pope Paul VI never got the credit he deserved for seeing the Second Vatican Council to a successful conclusion and for keeping virtually everyone on board in the tumultuous times that followed. Soon after the election of Pope Francis, it became clear that the new pope had an affinity for Paul. Why was he so great? And why were his accomplishments so easily ignored?
The second question is easier to answer. Giovanni Battista Montini was elected pope in 1963, taking the name Paul VI, after the death of Pope John XXIII who had convened the Vatican II in 1962. Paul would shepherd the Council until its close in 1965 and the church until his death in 1978. The Catholic right thought Paul was insufficiently rigorous in ferreting out those they thought were taking liberties with the implementation of the Council's reforms. The legalistic mentality, so evident in the opposition to Francis, faulted Montini for his ability to recognize the ambivalence of many of the issues facing the church. If you wanted clarity above all else, Montini's commitment to dialogue and acceptance of complexity were not your cup of tea. If you thought that the decentralization of decision-making was a fool's errand, Paul's commitment to synodality and to empowering episcopal conferences made you conclude he was foolish. The impatient often view patience as a fault.
For the full article see: https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/pope-paul-vis-greatness-lies-his-church-leadership-after-vatican-ii
