Francis praises ‘modernising’ Paul VI

Speaking at the beatification of Pope Paul VI on Sunday, Pope Francis quoted his predecessor as saying the Church must find ways of responding to the needs of today, writes Hannah Roberts.

The Mass at St Peter’s on Sunday in front of 70,000 pilgrims and clergy, brought the Extraordinary Synod on the Family to a close. Paul VI presided over the greater part of the reforming 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, and many participants and observers at the synod testified to a “spirit of Vatican II” at the gathering.
Catholics “must not fear the new”, Pope Francis said in his homily. “God is not afraid of the new … That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways.” Quoting Paul VI, Francis said the Church must “scrutinise the signs of the times, to try to adapt its ways and methods to respond to the growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society”.

Paul VI is also remembered for his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which confirmed the Church’s ban on artificial contraception. In a possible allusion to the encyclical, Francis said on Sunday: “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.”

Paul VI, who died in 1978, was beatified after the Vatican approved the miraculous healing of an unborn child. Doctors in California had said a baby boy would be born with serious birth defects, but the parents refused to have an abortion and he was born in good health. The boy is now in his teens. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI made a rare public appearance at the beatification.