Paul VI elected Pope

Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus PP. VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants, which resulted in a number of historic meetings and agreements.
Montini served in the Vatican’s State Department from 1922 to 1954. While in the State Department, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential co-workers of Pope Pius XII, who named him in 1954 Archbishop of the largest Italian dioceses, Milan, a function which made him automatically Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after his death, Montini was considered the favourite successor.
He took on the name Paul, to indicate a renewed worldwide mission to spread the message of Christ. He re-opened the Second Vatican Council, which was automatically closed with the death of John XXIII and gave it both priorities and direction. After the Council 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 the Roman Catholic Church. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all areas 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 Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary to be the Mother of the Church during the Vatican Council. Paul VI sought the dialogue with the world, with other Christians, religions, atheism,...

The Coronation of Pope Paul VIMontini was generally seen as Pope John's heir apparent, a fact acknowledged by John himself, though he jokingly used to tease Montini as being Our Hamlet on account of Montini's alleged indecisiveness. Montini was an enthusiastic supporter of Pope John's decision to establish the Second Vatican Council. When John died of cancer in 1963, Montini finally was elected to the papacy, where he took the name Paul VI. He brought the Second Vatican Council to completion in 1965 and directed the implementation of its directives until his death in 1978. He was also the last pope to be crowned; his successor Pope John Paul I abolished the ceremony during his reign, though it could be reinstated. He donated his own Papal Tiara to the Basilica of National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 1965 he established the Synod of Bishops but controversially withdrew two issues from its authority, priestly celibacy and the issue of artificial contraception and made both the subject of controversial encyclicals.

Humanæ Vitæ
Pope Paul's most controversial decision occurred on July 24, 1968, when in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, "Of Human Life", he rejected the recommendations of a commission established by John XXIII and reaffirmed the Catholic Church's disapproval of artificial birth control. His decision was unexpected, as many in the catholic world expected the Church to accept with some reservations the technological advances that had produced the contraceptive pill. In subsequent decades, the vast majority of baptised Catholics opted to use birth control in spite of church teaching. To its supporters, Humanæ Vitae is seen as a valued and welcome reaffirming of the sanctity of human sexuality and the procreative act. To his many opponents, Humanæ Vitæ is seen as a calamity akin to Pope Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors, with the church turning its back on technological advances that could help humanity deal with the problems of seri...

Gianbattista Montini was elected Pope in 1963 upon the death of John XXIII. The new Pope took the name of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, because of Paul's role to the proclamation of the Gospel to the four corners of the earth. It fell to Pope Paul VI to complete the work of the Second Vatican Council and to see that Vatican II's teaching was implemented in the life of the Church. Though less jovial and humorous than his predecessor, Pope Paul VI was an inspiration in his relentless energy in serving the Lord. It was he who began the international Papal travel that was taken up so effectively by Pope John Paul II. Pope Paul VI died in 1978 and was succeeded by Pope John Paul I.