On 21st June, 1963, GIOVANNI BATTISTA MONTINI, Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan, was elected Pope by the College of Cardinals and took the name Paul VI.
Pope Paul VI's Pontificate spanned the years of the Second Vatican Council and the troubled years which followed it. He died on 6th August, 1978 at the age of 80 and is buried in the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica.
An attempt to present a balanced account of his not uncontroversial life and work can be found here.
This post presents images of Pope Paul between 1965 and 1978. This marks a distinct phase in the Liturgical aesthetics of Papal Ceremonies. Monsignor Dante having retired from the role of Prefect of Pontifical Ceremonies in 1965, this role was assumed into the wider responsibilities of none-other than Monsignor Annibale Bugnini. Immediately a much simpler form of papal ceremonial and vesture was introduced: the rest is history.
Click on the images for an enlarged view.
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| Pope Paul offering Mass in the Basilica of the Annunciation during his Apostolic Voyage to the Holy Lands, 1964. |
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| During a Mass of Ordination in S' Peter's, 1965. |
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| During a Mass of Ordination in S' Peter's, 1965. |
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| Pope Paul blessing the Faithful from the central loggia of S' Peter's, December 1965. The use of a pastoral staff for Papal Ceremonies had been introduced in that year. |
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| Pope Paul being carried through S' Peter's Square at the Closing Ceremony of the Second Vatican Council, 8th December, 1965. |
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| Pope Paul being carried through S' Peter's Square at the Closing Ceremony of the Second Vatican Council, 8th December, 1965. |
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| Pope Paul being carried through S' Peter's Square at the Closing Ceremony of the Second Vatican Council, 8th December, 1965. |
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| On the Feast of the Epiphany, 1967. For this Feast each year, Pope Paul would wear the elaborately decorated chasuble shewn here. |
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| In between: Pope Paul wearing newly-designed Marian vestments together with the "Vatican Two" albes. He also wearing gloves for the celebration of Pontifical Mass. January 1967. |
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| May 1969. Newly-Elevated members of the Sacred College concelebrate with Pope Paul in Saint Peter's Basilica. When concelebration was re-introduced in Rome after 1965, it was customary for the concelebrants to completely encircle the Altar of the Confession in the Basilica. This practice was dropped with the introduction of the New Order of Mass in 1970. |
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| Pope Paul with the famous Cardinal Mindzenty of Hungary in 1971. |
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| Palm Sunday, April 1974. |
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| Pope Paul kneeling before the Holy Door after its Opening on 25th December 1974. |
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| Pope Paul preaching. |
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| Pope Paul giving his Blessing to the Faithful in S' Peter's Square March 1976. |
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| Laetare Sunday, 1978. Pope Paul in a beautiful set of rose-coloured vestments. |
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| Pope Paul during one of his last appearances in S' Peter's Square, March 1978. |
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| Pope Paul lying-in-state at Castelgandolfo 7th August, 1978. Changes to ceremonial for the death of a Pope are manifest here in the simplex mitre rather than the cloth gold mitre being used for burial.  |