He died on 6 August 1978, precisely on the liturgical feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord.
Following the death of Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster in 1954, he was consecrated Archbishop of Milan. The motto bishop Montini undertook for his episcopal life and ministry was “Cum Ipso in monte”, “with him on the mount”, thus a clear reference to the Transfiguration account. In what way can Pope Paul VI’s pontificate be considered as transfigurative? I resort myself to just two examples.
Already as an archbishop, Montini tried to implement his pastoral progressivism by reaching the people of his diocese where they actually were. Milan of that time was resistant to religious beliefs. For this reason the wise Milanese shepherd put everywhere huge posters which announced that 1,000 voices would address the Milanese from 10 to 24 November 1957. In fact, more than 500 priests and many bishops, cardinals and lay persons delivered some 7000 sermons in the period not just in churches but also in factories, meeting halls, houses, courtyards, schools, offices, military barracks, hospitals, hotels and other places, where people encounter.
His inspiring goal was that of re-introducing the Catholic faith to a city which had practically abandoned the religious practices. He used to say: “If only we can say Our Father and know what this means, then we would understand the Christian faith”. Montini acknowledged that Western Europe had become once again a missionary country. As the successor of Saint Peter, Pope Paul VI recognised the urgent need of evangelising the modern world. Motivated by the ardent desire to disseminate the Christian message anew he convened the 1974 synod of bishops which studied attentively the theme of evangelisation of the modern world. As a result of that synod he presented to the Church the key encyclical, ‘Evangelii Nuntiandi’, which he published on 8 December, 1975.
‘Evangelii Nuntiandi managed to form a Catholic expression of evangelisation by clarifying that “evangelising means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new” (§ 18). Moreover, Pope Paul VI founded the legitimacy and even the primacy of evangelisation by arguing that the “[Church] exists in order to evangelise” together with the reality that “evangelisation is the essential mission of the Church” (§ 14). Finally, ‘Evangelii Nuntiandi’ brought forward the altogether innovative evangelical concept that the gospel can successfully infiltrate the different classes of society much more by witnesses than teachers. In ‘Evangelii Nuntiandi’ he eloquently affirmed: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (§ 41).
Another domain in which Montini’s pontificate excelled was that of human sexuality. Pope Paul VI’s teaching on the subject brought a new appreciation and a concomitant demanding responsibility on the married couples’ shoulders. The marital commitment is a faithful servant to procreation whilst the latter equally serves the former. In his pivotal encyclical on the regulation of birth, ‘Humanae Vitae’, the Holy Father balanced the unitive and procreative act of love between a man and a woman. He wrote that both aspects constitute “the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act” (§ 12).
Montini’s papacy was a breakthrough in many aspects. However, his transfigurative approach found fertile ground because of his total trust in Jesus Christ. His historic discourse inaugurating the second session of the Second Vatican Council says it all. ‘Te, Christe, solum novimus’. ‘Thee, O Christ, alone we know’.
Can’t this also be our life motto?
■ Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann