Today in the Universal Church, we celebrate the memorial of Pope Paul VI, who was born Giovanni Battista Montini in Concesio in 1897. He was the Pope who guided the Church through one of the most transformative periods in modern Catholic history. He was elected in 1963 after the death of Pope John XXIII. He is most remembered for courageously continuing and concluding the Second Vatican Council and then implementing its reforms, however difficult they may have been.
Throughout the universal Church, he was deeply intellectual, spiritually sensitive, and often personally burdened by the tensions of the modern age. Paul VI sought dialogue between the Church and the contemporary world while remaining faithful to Catholic doctrine. He became the first pope in centuries to travel extensively around the world, visiting places such as the Holy Land, India, Africa, the Philippines, and the United States, emphasizing the universal mission of the Church.
He is also especially known for his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which he reaffirmed the Church’s teaching against artificial contraception despite enormous cultural pressure to change it. Though sometimes misunderstood during his lifetime, Saint Pope Paul VI is now widely regarded as a courageous and prophetic pope who carried the Church through a difficult era of transition with humility, suffering, and profound faith.
What the world criticized him for is now what the world suffers from. His words of warning that the widespread use and promotion of artificial contraception would lead to enormous increases in divorce, sexual immorality, abortion, unwanted pregnancies, and the degradation of women around the world have proven deeply prophetic.
My brothers and sisters, in today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his apostles: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The apostles replied: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” They all got it wrong.
We so need to be careful of the opinions of the world, my brothers and sisters, and the many voices that are out there trying to persuade us in one direction or another, because oftentimes they are not voices of truth but distractions and heresies that lead us astray.
Rather, let us be courageous like Saint Paul VI, who gave the right answer because he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Jesus left us a teaching Magisterium that cannot err when it teaches on faith and morals, just as He guided the apostles. Even Peter, the first pope, was corrected and assisted at times by Saint Paul. This did not mean Peter lacked authority, but rather that the Holy Spirit safeguarded the Church even through fraternal correction and guidance.
And so, my brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit does indeed guide us personally, but first and foremost He guides us as a Church, especially through the teaching body of the Church headed by the Holy Father.
That is why we should continue to respect and take to heart the words of our Holy Father. We should bring them to prayer, discern how they apply to our own lives, and allow them to guide our common mission to evangelize the world and bring all people to Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Go in peace.
Readings for St Pope Paul VI's Mass:
Lectionary: 571A
From the Common of Pastors: For a Pope,
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!
If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,
but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What then is my recompense?
That, when I preach,
I offer the Gospel free of charge
so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel.
Although I am free in regard to all,
I have made myself a slave to all
so as to win over as many as possible.
To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak.
I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
All this I do for the sake of the Gospel,
so that I too may have a share in it.
Responsorial Psalm
- (3) Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Alleluia
- Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me, says the Lord,
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
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