Giovanni Battista Montini

Pope Blessed Paul VI
Bishop of Rome
Paul VI in 1963
Papacy began	21 June 1963
Papacy ended	6 August 1978
Predecessor	John XXIII
Successor	John Paul I
Orders
Ordination	29 May 1920 by Giacinto Gaggia
Consecration	12 December 1954 by Eugène Tisserant
Created Cardinal	15 December 1958 by John XXIII
Personal details
Birth name	Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini
Born	(1897-09-26)26 September 1897 Concesio, Brescia, Kingdom of Italy
Died	6 August 1978(1978-08-06) (aged 80) Castel Gandolfo, Italy
Previous post	Referendary Prelate of the Apostolic Signatura (1926–38) Substitute for General Affairs (1937–53) Pro-Secretary for Ordinary Affairs of Secretariat of State (1953–54) Archbishop of Milan (1954–63) Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti (1958–63)
Motto	Cum Ipso in monte (With Him on the mount) In nomine Domini (In the name of the Lord)
Signature
Coat of arms
Sainthood
Feast day	26 September 30 May (Ambrosian Rite)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	19 October 2014 Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis
Attributes	Papal vestments Papal tiara
Patronage	Archdiocese of Milan Paul VI Pontifical Institute Second Vatican Council Diocese of Brescia Concesio Magenta Paderno Dugnano

Papal styles of Pope Paul VI
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Blessed

Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒioˈvanːi baˈtːista enˈriko anˈtonjo marˈija monˈtini]; 26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978), reigned as Pope from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, and fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. Montini served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential colleagues of Pope Pius XII, who in 1954 named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini later became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most likely successors.

Upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the name Paul VI. He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which was automatically closed with the death of John XXIII, and gave it priority and direction. After the council had concluded its work, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, often walking a thin line between the conflicting expectations of various groups within Catholicism. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform policies of his predecessors and successors. Paul VI was a Marian devotee, speaking repeatedly to Marian congresses and mariological meetings, visiting Marian shrines and issuing three Marian encyclicals. Following his famous predecessor Saint Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI sought dialogue with the world, with other Christians, other religions, and atheists, excluding nobody. He saw himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes of the rich in North America and Europe in favour of the poor in the Third World. His positions on birth control, promulgated most famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, and other political issues, were often controversial, especially in Western Europe and North America.