St. Pope Paul VI – the maligned Pope

The canonization of Pope Paul VI was kind of anticlimactic. He wasn’t the beloved jovial pope that John XXIII was. Nor did he achieve the superstar status of John Paul II. In fact, I can’t think of a “popular devotion,” to Pope Paul VI. But I do credit him for keeping me Catholic through my young adulthood. 

I don’t have a clear remembrance of John XXIII. He was the pope of my infancy. Pope Paul was the pope of my school years. It was his picture on the wall next to President Kennedy in the blue-collar farmhouse I grew up in near Flint Michigan.

In the very haziness of late childhood, I remember that he put out a letter that ticked off a lot of people. Mostly I remember him as being kind of silent and sad looking. 

As a teenager, I was thrilled with Pope John Paul II. He felt like a breath of fresh air and not like a pope at all – at least not what I had become accustomed to. After all, he was a pope that went skiing and traveled! He seemed upbeat and happy all of the time.

It was not until I was much older, married, and struggling with all of those newly married Catholic things like NFP that I started seeing Pope Paul VI in a new light. As I studied Humane Vitae more and more, and even the Theology of the Body, I thought Paul VI was a genius. 

Now I think he was a prophet, too. Many of the things he wrote about in Humane Vitae as being dangerous and sinful have since come to pass.

The Legacy

But prophets are never appreciated in their own time. Paul VI sure wasn’t. His own bishops rebelled against his teaching and lay Catholics started following the misguided theologians who told them that conscience should be their guide without telling them how to go about forming that conscience. 

God protected his church through Paul VI, who bravely wrote his Encyclical that saved the church from entering a grave error, scandal, and embarrassment. 

Despite his courage in this matter, Pope Paul spent the rest of his papacy saddened by the reception and disobedience of the encyclical by the laity and some of the clergy in the west. Paul surely suffered as a servant of God.

Setting the Record Straight

Pope John XXIII  and Pope John Paul II were canonized together in 2014. It seemed unjust in my mind that the “Paul” part of that trio was not included. 

But in 2018 Pope Paul, the pope that did not bend to modern trends and held fast to the teachings of the Catholic Church with regard to sexuality and family planning was canonized by Pope Francis, the darling of the liberal media. The irony of this is not lost on me. 

Celebrating the Feast Day

• So while there might not be a popular devotion to Paul VI per se, he had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother.  In gratitude for his bravery and his beautiful encyclical, I can express that when I pray the rosary. 
• Study Humane Vitae
• Learn more about the life of Paul VI.
• Offer something up or do a little suffering in silence today like Paul VI. Pray for your enemies or the people that wronged you.

Saint Pope Paul VI, pray for us.