46 Facts About Pope Paul VI

1. The Pope Paul VI had to make a decree that Native Americans were "rational beings with souls" and not to be enslaved in 1537.

2. Pope Paul VI inaugurated the synod system of consultation of the early Church that Vatican II called for.

3. In 1968 Pope Paul VI went against the advice of the majority of his chosen counselors on the subject and in his letter Humanae vitae upheld the tradition of his predecessors, who had condemned what they called "artificial" birth control.

4. Pope Paul VI seemed to sense more than did many of the reformers that it would not be easy to administer and lead a church in transition to the modern world.

5. In 1968, in the encyclical Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the church's long-standing ban on contraception.

6. The Pope Paul VI, admitting that celibacy was difficult, nevertheless upheld it by appeals to Scripture and tradition and declined to modify the law in any way.

7. Pope Paul VI is most remembered for his focus on unity of mankind and world peace.

8. Pope Paul VI is remembered for his ability to connect people around the globe, implement change in adversity, and spread the message of world peace.

9. Pope Paul VI appointed the Rev Federico Lombardi to moderate the plenary meetings.

10. Pope Paul VI clearly suffered from the responses within the Church to Humanae vitae.

11. Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit five continents.

12. Pope Paul VI admonished but did not punish those with other views.

13. Pope Paul VI took on himself the unfinished reform work of these two popes, bringing them diligently with great humility and common sense and without much fanfare to conclusion.

14. Pope Paul VI expressed a desire for peace during the Vietnam War.

15. Pope Paul VI was neither able nor permitted to do so and instead stayed in bed, his temperature rising.

16. Pope Paul VI discussed business from his bed about 48 hours after the operation with Cardinal Amleto Cicognani and at that point was off intravenous feeding in favour of orange juice and hot broth.

17. Pope Paul VI praised Paul VI and his contributions in the service of unity.

18. Pope Paul VI was the first pope in centuries to meet the heads of various Eastern Orthodox faiths.

19. Pope Paul VI was the first pope since the ninth century to visit the East, labelling the Eastern Churches as sister Churches.

20. The Pope Paul VI chose the theme of evangelism for the synod of bishops in 1974.

21. The Pope Paul VI does not paint an overly romantic picture of marriage: marital relations are a source of great joy, but of difficulties and hardships.

22. Pope Paul VI rejected notions to instigate revolution and force in changing economic conditions.

23. Pope Paul VI repeats his demands expressed in Bombay in 1964 for a large-scale World Development Organization, as a matter of international justice and peace.

24. Pope Paul VI opposed relativistic notions which would have given the Eucharist a symbolic character only.

25. Pope Paul VI attempted to present the Marian teachings of the Church in view of her new ecumenical orientation.

26. Pope Paul VI made extensive contributions to Mariology during his pontificate.

27. Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western hemisphere when he addressed the United Nations in New York City in October 1965.

28. Pope Paul VI was only lightly stabbed by Benjamin Mendoza y Amor Flores, who was subdued by the pope's personal bodyguard and travel organiser, Monsignor Paul Marcinkus.

29. Pope Paul VI travelled more widely than any of his predecessors, earning the nickname "the Pilgrim Pope".

30. Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit six continents.

31. Pope Paul VI extended this requirement to all cardinals in Ingravescentem aetatem on 21 November 1970, with the further provision that cardinals would relinquish their offices in the Roman Curia upon reaching their 80th birthday.

32. Pope Paul VI opened the final session of the council, concelebrating with bishops from countries where the Church was persecuted.

33. Pope Paul VI reminded the Council Fathers that many bishops from the east could not attend because the governments in the East did not permit their journeys.

34. Pope Paul VI reminded the council fathers that only a few years earlier Pope Pius XII had issued the encyclical Mystici corporis about the mystical body of Christ.

35. Pope Paul VI abolished the Palatine Guard and the Noble Guard, leaving the Swiss Guard as the sole military order of the Vatican.

36. At his coronation Pope Paul VI wore a tiara that was a gift from the Archdiocese of Milan.

37. Pope Paul VI was the last pope to date to be crowned on June 30, 1963; his successor Pope John Paul I substituted an inauguration for the papal coronation.

38. Pope Paul VI wrote that "In case of infirmity, which is believed to be incurable or is of long duration and which impedes us from sufficiently exercising the functions of our apostolic ministry; or in the case of another serious and prolonged impediment", he would renounce his office "both as bishop of Rome as well as head of the same holy Catholic Church".

39. Pope Paul VI appointed him simultaneously to several Vatican congregations which resulted in many visits by Montini to Rome in the coming years.

40. Pope Paul VI used his authority to ensure that the liturgical reforms of Pius XII were carried out at the local level and employed innovative methods to reach the people of Milan.

41. Pope Paul VI enjoyed meetings with intellectuals, artists and writers.

42. Pope Paul VI was consecrated bishop in Saint Peter's Basilica by Cardinal Eugene Tisserant, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, since Pius XII was forced to stay in bed due to his severe illness.

43. Pope Paul VI wished to participate fully in it, to share his sufferings in his own heart and soul.

44. Pope Paul VI wished to enter fully into the history of his own afflicted time: with a deep understanding, that he was himself a part of that history.

45. Pope Paul VI attended the Cesare Arici school, run by the Jesuits, and in 1916 received a diploma from the Arnaldo da Brescia public school in Brescia.

46. Pope Paul VI's positions on birth control, promulgated famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, were often contested, especially in Western Europe and North America.