Recalling the pope's prophetic papacy.
Continued below.
Paul VI’s Canonization Presents an Opportunity
I was not excited about the canonization of Paul VI. But I'm now OK with it. He seemed to flounder in the face of Modernist assaults on the Church, but I think much of that was due to the strength of the assaults rather than his own weakness. Before I thought it was his weakness. I now think he was strong in the face of a very strong enemy. The 'Smoke of Satan' was no joke. His encyclical Humanae Vitae was prophetic. Not as well explained as John Paul's Theology of the Body, but a correct teaching, necessary, and prophetic. He did fail on the liturgy, which is a sore spot, and many of his curia had the smell of smoke on their clothing. He, himself was heroic even if not terribly successful.
“Faith gives us certainty, security, when it is based on the word of God accepted and found consenting with our own reason and with our own human soul.”
