Pope Paul VI (26 September 1897-6 August 1978), born Giovanni Battista Montini, was the Pope from 1963 to 1978, succeeding Pope John XXIII and preceding Pope John Paul I.
Biography[]
Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was born in Concesio in the Province of Brescia in the northern regions of the Kingdom of Italy. He was ordained as a priest in 1920, made a Cardinal of the Catholic Church in 1958, and was elected as Pope in 1963 to succeed Pope John XXIII. During his tenure as Pope, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (November 1963), the Vietnam War began (1964), the "God is Dead" declaration was made (1966), the 1968 uprisings in France, the United States, and Czechoslovakia, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968), and the use of birth control pills. Also, a sharp rise in crime occurred in many countries across the world. He preached for peace during the Vietnam War, but the war raged on from 1964 to 1975. Pope Paul VI died in 1978, and he was succeeded by Pope John Paul I.