of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII
, who had convened the Second Vatican Council
, he decided to continue it. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements.
Montini served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954.
1965 Becoming the first Pope to ever visit the United States of America and the Western hemisphere, Pope Paul VI arrives in New York.
1965 ''Nostra Aetate'', the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's 760 year-old declaration.
1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.
1968 Pope Paul VI issues the ''Credo of the People of God''.
1968 Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.
1975 The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.
Nemo sane christifidelium eat infitias, ad Ecclesiae Magisterium interpretationem legis moralis naturalis spectare.
Sacro autem baptismate ablutis, matrimonium eiusmodi praeditum est dignitate, ut gratiae sacramentale signum exsistat, cum Christi et Ecclesiae coniunctionem designet.
Ad hoc, coniugalis amor et fidelis et exclusorius est, usque ad vitae extremum;
Si deinde ad impulsus innatos et ad animi affectus spectamus, paternitas conscia necessariam declarat dominationem, quam ratio et voluntas in eosdem exerceant necesse est.
It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.
Priestly celibacy has been guarded by the Church for centuries as a brilliant jewel, and retains its value undiminished even in our time when the outlook of men and the state of the world have undergone such profound changes.
If evils increase, the devotion of the People of God should also increase.