Paul VI, the ‘great helmsman’ of Vatican II, is beatified

Pope Francis beatified his predecessor, Paul VI, at the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops on the family.

The Pontiff praised the late Pope as the “great helmsman” of the Second Vatican Council and founder of the synod, as well as a “humble and prophetic witness of love for Christ and his Church”.

Paul VI was perhaps best known as the Pope who affirmed the Catholic Church’s ban on contraception with his 1968 Encyclical Humanae Vitae.

Pope Francis was speaking during his homily in St Peter’s Square at Mass. The Crowd of 30,000 included retired Pope Benedict, whom Blessed Paul made a cardinal in 1977. Pope Francis said: “When we look to this great Pope, this courageous Christian, this tireless apostle, we cannot but say in the sight of God a word as simple as it is heartfelt and important: thanks.

“Facing the advent of a secularised and hostile society, (Blessed Paul) could hold fast, with farsightedness and wisdom – and at times alone – to the helm of the barque of Peter,” Pope Francis said, in a possible allusion to Humanae Vitae.

Relic

The Pope pronounced the rite of beatification at the start of the Mass. Then Sr Giacomina Pedrini, a member of the Sisters of Holy Child Mary, carried up a relic: a bloodstained vest Blessed Paul was wearing during a 1970 assassination attempt in the Philippines.

Sr Pedrini is the last surviving nun who attended to Blessed Paul.

In his homily, Pope Francis also highlighted his predecessor’s work presiding over most of Vatican II and establishing the synod.

The Pope quoted Blessed Paul’s statement that he intended the synod to survey the “signs of the times” in order to adapt to the “growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society”.

Looking back on the two-week family synod, Pope Francis called it a “great experience,” whose members had “felt the power of the Holy Spirit who constantly guides and renews the Church”.

He said the family synod demonstrated that “Christians look to the future, God’s future… and respond courageously to whatever new challenges come our way.”