Pope Paul VI to be Canonized This Year

Pope Francis alluded to the forthcoming canonization of Pope Paul VI during a meeting with Rome’s parish priests at the Lateran Basilica this month, stating: "Paul VI will be a saint this year." On February 6th, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the second miracle needed for Blessed Paul VI to be named a saint. It is believed that said canonization could take place in October.

Pope Paul VI was born Giovanni Battista Montini in the village of Concesio, Italy, on September 26, 1897. He is remembered for seeing the Second Vatican Council to its conclusion and working to enact its provisions. In 1968 he authored the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which affirmed the Church’s teaching that artificial birth control is gravely immoral and contrary to marriage as conceived by God.

Marriage properly understood, is the conjugal union of a man and woman for life, of exclusive and mutual fidelity, for the procreation and education of children. The dual purpose of sexual union is unitive: the bonding of spouses in greater love and intimacy, and, procreative: to collaborate freely and responsibly with God in the transmission of human life so as to be open to the blessing of children.

In addition to discussing the various joys and challenges of matrimony, Humanae Vitae enumerates four dire consequences for society should the Church's teaching on contraception be dismissed. They are: 1.) infidelity and moral decay; 2.) a loss of respect for women by men; 3.) the abuse of power and; 4.) unlimited dominion, i.e; attempts to conform nature to man' desires as well as the coercive use of reproductive technologies by governments — all of which have come true.