Blir Paul VI saligkåret i jubileumsåret?

Interview with Fr. Paolo Molinari, Postulator of His Cause

VATICAN CITY, DEC 20 (ZENIT).- On December 16, the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum organized a congress in Rome to focus on the topic, "Paul VI and the Jubilee of 2000." Many Catholics are expecting Paul VI's beatification during the Jubilee year, as he is one of the major figures of the Church in our times, in addition to being one of the outstanding personalities of the 20th century. His pontificate left an indelible mark on the history of the Catholic Church: audacious moves were made, significant ecumenical signs were recorded, and it was altogether a time of profound humanity. In order to learn more about this outstanding Pontiff, ZENIT interviewed Fr. Paolo Molinari, postulator of Paul VI's beatification cause and a speaker at the congress, where he focused on the question: "Pope Paul VI, a Jubilee Saint?"

FR. MOLINARI: Paul VI will not be declared a saint during the Jubilee because the diocesan investigation, which is the first phase of the cause of beatification, ended on March 18 of this year, and it takes years to be canonized. Nevertheless, it is true that Paul VI had such deep insight that many think of him as a prophet. The Christian qualities of his life lead me to say that if all Catholics appropriated them, sanctity would blossom in the Church.

ZENIT: What are the characteristics of Giovanni Battista Montini's holy life?

FR. MOLINARI: Few have perceived the intensity of Paul VI's relation with the Lord. Suffice it to read the collection of prayers entitled: "Paul VI: Prayers to Christ," to realize their intensity. Pope Montini, who many regard as a sophisticated and distant intellectual, lived with an intense and enthusiastic love for Christ. One must begin from here in order to understand the fabric of his life. Paul VI is not understood if this characteristic is not kept in mind. His love for Christ is what gave him the strength to address the lacerating and complex problems that flowed from Vatican Council II, and the tearing apart that has been experienced in post-Conciliar years down to our times...

ZENIT: What problems in particular?

FR. MOLINARI: Delicate and complex problems, such as episcopal collegiality in the light of its relation to the primacy of Peter's successor, and Catholic morality in regard to contraception. The years of the Council and post Council were not easy for the Church's Supreme Pontiff. These were years of tension, argument, divisions, and events that made Paul VI's sensitive heart suffer more than ever. And he was forced to make hard choices, as was the case with a note prior to discussion in order to avoid a tendency that would have undermined the authority of the primacy of Peter, and in the promulgation of "Humanae Vitae."

In connection with the primacy of Peter, before the vote on the dogmatic constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium," and especially no. 22 of the third chapter, which discusses the issue of collegiality, Pope Paul VI sent a note prior to discussion, in which, while open to collegiality, he reaffirmed the primacy of Christ's Vicar in the Church, and that the text would be voted on in light of the note; and that, consequently, no other interpretation of the texts was possible beyond that of the note. This decision was necessary to avoid tendencies that would have weakened or diminished the extent of Peter's primacy. The note was communicated to the Council Fathers by the secretary general following the will of the supreme authority and before voting on the third chapter on November 16, 1964.

Thus, Paul VI avoided the opening of a crack and ensuing division on a topic as important as the primacy of Peter and the role of collegiality. An issue that continues to be very much debated at present. During the 15 years he led the Church (from 1963 to 1978), Paul VI took decisions that stopped the rudder from taking a mistaken course. Decisions that took a lot of courage, as was the case when "Humanae Vitae" was promulgated, when he was aware of the criticisms and opposition, even within the Church. In conscience and before God Pope Montini insisted in declaring that it was a document of his that, "inspired in the intangible biblical and evangelical teaching, ratifies the norms of natural law and the ineradicable dictates of conscience" for responsible maternity and paternity. Hence his repeated affirmations on the painful reality and very sad effects of both divorce and abortion.

ZENIT: Much is said about Paul VI's broad vision. It is not difficult to find in John Paul Il's pontificate pointers and traces marked by Pope Montini.

FR. MOLINARI: "The signs of this broad vision are innumerable, and it is impossible to describe them in a few lines. I would like to mention here, however, what Paul VI said in a general audience in 1972, when speaking of the situation of the Church, in a very current analysis. "How is it possible that this interior fullness was weakened in so many spirits who still say they are of the Church? How is it possible that so many lines of militant faithful have let themselves be overcome by sloth and have been decimated in the name and under the guidance of the Church? How is it possible that many have made themselves apostles of controversy, laicization and secularization, virtually thinking of giving free course to the expressions of the Spirit? Perhaps, trusting more in the spirit of the world than in Christ's? The Church needs to recover the desire, the taste, the certainty of its truth and to listen with inviolable silence and with docile disposition to the voice, or rather, to the eloquent colloquy of contemplative absorption in the Spirit... The Church has need to feel the tide, the wave of love, that love that is called charity, in all its human faculties." These are words that, although pronounced 28 years ago, continue to have profound value today.

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