Pope Francis beatifies Paul VI at remarkable synod's end

Vatican City: Pope Francis on Sunday beatified Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues that drew parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI was on hand for the Mass, which took place just hours after Catholic bishops approved a document charting a more pastoral approach to ministering to Catholic families.

They failed to reach consensus on the two most divisive issues at the synod: on welcoming gays and divorced and civilly remarried couples. But the issues remain up for discussion ahead of another meeting of bishops next year.

While the synod scrapped its ground-breaking welcome and showed deep divisions on hot-button issues, the fact that the questions are on the table is significant given that they had been taboo until Francis' papacy.

"God is not afraid of new things!" Francis exclaimed in his homily Sunday. "That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways."

He quoted Paul himself as saying the church, particularly its synod of bishops, must survey the signs of the times to make sure the church adapts methods to respond to the "growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society."

Paul was elected in 1963 to succeed the popular Pope John XXIII, and during his 15-year reign was responsible for implementing the reforms of Vatican II and charting the church through the tumultuous years of the 1960s sexual revolution.

Vatican II opened the way for Mass to be said in local languages instead of in Latin, called for greater involvement of the laity in the life of the church and revolutionized the church's relations with people of other faiths.

He is perhaps best known, though, for the divisive 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which enshrined the church's opposition to artificial contraception.

The beatification marks the third 20th century pope Francis has elevated this year: In April, he canonized Sts. John Paul II and John XXIII. That historic event marked the first time a reigning and retired pope - Francis and Benedict - had celebrated Mass together in public in the 2,000-year history of the church.

Benedict returned to the steps of St. Peter's Basilica for Paul's outdoor beatification Mass in a potent symbol of the continuity of the church, despite differences in style and priorities that were so evident in the synod meetings this week.

Paul was beatified, the first step toward possible sainthood, after the Vatican certified a miracle attributed to his intercession concerning a California boy whom doctors had said would be born with serious birth defects. The boy, whose identity has been kept secret at his parents' request, is now a healthy teen.

A second miracle needs to be certified by the Vatican for him to be canonized.

The Vatican said 70,000 people attended Sunday's Mass, held under sunny Roman skies, far fewer than the 800,000 people who attended the dual canonization earlier this year. Paul is often called the "forgotten" or "misunderstood" pope, caught between the "good pope" John XXIII and the crowd-pleasing, globe-trotting John Paul.

5 Things to Know about Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI. (Photo: AFP/File)

Pope Francis beatified Pope Paul VI on Sunday at the end of a remarkable meeting of Catholic bishops discussing family life, marriage, divorce, sex and gay unions. Paul VI oversaw the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 world-wide church meetings which brought the Catholic Church into modern times. The parallels between Francis and Paul, and the divisive issues both men confronted, are significant. Here are 5 Things to Know about Paul VI.

Biography

Paul VI was born Giovanni Battista Montini near Brescia in northern Italy on Sept. 26, 1897. After joining the Vatican's secretariat of state in 1922, he became one of Pope Pius XII's closest collaborators, instrumental in the Vatican's efforts to save Roman Jews from Nazi persecution during World War II.

In 1954 he became archbishop of Milan. During the conclave of June 1963, Montini was elected to succeed the popular John XXIII and took the name Paul, seen as an indication that his papacy would be missionary and outward looking. He was the first pope to travel outside Italy, making nine trips, including the Middle East, United States, India, and the Philippines, where in 1970 he survived an assassination attempt. He died unexpectedly while at the papal summer residence near Rome on Aug. 6, 1978.

SIMILARITIES TO POPE FRANCIS

Shortly after his installation, Paul sold the tiara with which he was crowned and donated the proceeds to the poor. Also quietly but systematically, he trimmed down the pomp and circumstance of the papacy, doing away with the noble guards at the Vatican though he retained the throne that popes were carried around on. Francis has followed in his footsteps, living in the Vatican hotel rather than the papal apartments, wearing simple vestments and restricting the honorary titles of "monsignor" for prelates.

During Sunday's Mass, Francis wore a simple chausible given to Paul VI for his 80th birthday and he used Paul's simple silver staff. Both men suffered from health problems: Paul VI's health was so frail he lived at home during his seminary years; Francis lost most of one lung to an infection when he was a young man.

VATICAN II

Vatican II, the 1962-65 world-wide church meetings, opened the way for Mass to be said in local languages instead of in Latin. It also encouraged more involvement of the laity in the life of the church and revolutionized its relations with other Christian communities and Jews. "Nostra Aetate" was the transformative council document that repudiated centuries of Christian teaching that Jews bore collective guilt for Christ's death.

Paul also inaugurated the synod system of consultation of the early church that Vatican II called for. Francis has reinvigorated the synod system to make it a truly freeing debate. The ideological divisions that split the council fathers during Vatican II were very much on view during Francis' first synod that just ended.

BIRTH CONTROL

Paul disappointed many Catholics who were hoping for liberalization of church teaching on sexuality as a result of Vatican II. Paul reserved the issue to himself and commissioned experts to report back, and the majority favored an opening in the church's position on artificial birth control.

But after much personal anguish and prayer, Paul enshrined the church's opposition to artificial contraception in the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae" ("Of Human Life"), which remains its teaching to this day. In his final testament, he dedicated his pontificate to the "protection of the faith and the defense of human life."

ALDO MORO

One of the greatest pains of Paul's life was the kidnapping and killing of his life-long friend and former Italian premier, Aldo Moro, in the spring of 1978 by the Red Brigades terrorist group.

Paul penned a heart-felt letter to the kidnappers, "on my knees" begging them to release his friend "without condition." His bullet-ridden body was eventually found in the back of a car in downtown Rome. The Moro family, upset at the plea for an unconditional release, refused to attend the state funeral in Rome's St. John Lateran basilica, which Paul presided over.