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Filomena Brito, asm
Novice of the Covenant of St. Mary


PAULO VI | WHO WAS IT?


This year's section on saints and us is written by the novices of the Covenant of St. Mary, each of whom will tell us the life and story of their patron saint this year. The first is Paul VI, the patron saint of novice Filomena Brito.



Who was the first Pope to return to the land of Jesus after Peter left it? Who was the first Pope to celebrate the Eucharist in the local language, after the Council of Trent in the 16th century? Who was the first Pope to declare a woman a Doctor of the Church?

Paul VI was that Pope. A Pope of beginnings in times that seemed to be coming to an endIt was a difficult time for both the world and the Church. During Paul VI's pontificate, there were times of division and rupture: the world was divided into two blocs, in the midst of the Cold War; and the Church, divided among itself, was blocked in its search for paths to unity.

Under the name John Baptist Montini, to whom the role of successor fellThe Second Vatican Council is a landmark in the history of the Church, taking as its legacy the Council begun in 1962 by Pope John XXIII, who died a year later. The Second Vatican Council is a milestone in the history of the Church and was based on a reflection by the Church on how to bring it up to date in today's society, while remaining faithful to all the history of the past and, above all, being more faithful to God. It's a difficult job, unraveling the fine line where openness to the world and fidelity to tradition touch. But Paul VI was also precursorIt was a new way of seeing the Church and living the faith. One of the major changes of the Second Vatican Council was in the Eucharist, which was now celebrated in the local language (instead of Latin), straightening upIn this way, the paths of the faithful who, through listening to and understanding the Word, are able to meet and talk to Jesus.

The name Paul VIchosen after his appointment, was already a prophecy that heralded his evangelizing impulse to proclaim the message of Christ to all.and pagans, going into all the world like the apostle St. Paul. His first trip was to the Holy Landthe land where everything began, the source that gives meaning to everything and where Paul VI wanted to draw strength for his pontificate. Like a river that cannot stand still, he has visited all five continents and, on the 50th anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions at Fatima, he was the first Pope to go on pilgrimage to the Cova da Iria.

Dialogue is one of the richest legacies that this Holy Father has left us," he writes: "The climate of dialog is friendship; better, service". He had a strong desire to dialog with the various confessions, religions and the world; this was the theme of his first encyclical. Paul VI visited Orthodox patriarchs, received heads of Protestant churches and spoke at the UN headquarters; established the World Day of Peacefounded on the hope of peace between all peoples, and also the Synod of BishopsThis is the reason for the greater involvement of the bishops in the concerns of the Universal Church.

Pope Francis called Paul VI "the Pope of modernity" for the innovative way he reformed the Church, but we could give him many other titles: a man of great courage, a man who lived from the strength of the humble, from the politics of the simple, from the trust of the poor, from the prayer of those dedicated to loving and serving, to bringing man to an encounter with God. He was a man who suffered a lot for the Church, to whom he gave his life, especially in the aftermath of the Council and the many controversies that arose around him; but he was also the Pope of true joy, writing an apostolic exhortation on joy.

What his posture doesn't reveal comes through in his words: they show the gentleness with which he loves God, the gentleness with which he loves everyone, to whom he speaks "In the name of God" (his episcopal motto). A man made for friendship with everyone, a man who was a father, a man who was a priest and, for this reason, writes: "Men, understand me; I love you all in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit...".

At the end of the last prayer he wrote, the Angelus on Transfiguration Sunday, August 6, 1978, he asked the Virgin Mary, "solicitous and affectionate mother," for protection for all. Paul VI, who wrote many pages about her, proclaimed her in 1964 as "Mother of the Church", entrusting all of humanity to her Immaculate Heart.

If the last words written were addressed to St. Mary, the last words spoken by Paul VI were addressed to the Father. According to those who accompanied him in his last hours, he kept repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father in heaven...". And so, seeing Christ in his glory and beauty, he gave his life on that Sunday, the day of the Transfiguration. Perhaps, like Peter, he exclaimed "Lord, it is good for us to be here" (Mt 17:4) and to stay here forever; giving his whole life to the Father, who heard his prayer and made him hear in that moment of the Transfiguration, in a fuller way, "This is my dearly loved son" (Mt 17:5).

Paul VI was a Pope, but today he is a saint, so he can be an example for our sanctification. From him we can learn dialog: first this dialog with God in listening to the Word, then dialog with others and also dialog with ourselves. To realize that tradition and innovation exist within us and that this dialogue can be difficult, but that it is possible and, above all, it is for greater fidelity to God. It shows us that in the Church there is a place where conservatives and progressives can dialog, and that place is the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, Mother of all.

This strong man teaches us to have a courageous love for the ChurchIt is a love that does not lower its arms, that breaks its shoes, a love that suffers for the Church and gives itself totally to her. It teaches us a love that goes out, with the freshness of the Holy Spirit. It teaches us to ask for our Holy Father, for Pope Francis, who is the one who today gives his body in the chair of Peter.

January 2024


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