What Passes for Praise These Days ...

Vatican City, 18 May 2012 (VIS) - This morning the Paul VI Chair, which will be instituted at LUMSA (Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta) University in Rome, was presented in the Holy See Press Office. In attendance were: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops; Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Rector of LUMSA; Michele Bonetti, member of the executive committee of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia; and Sergio Gatti, general director of Federcasse. ...

Paul VI has a place in history, above all for his guidance of the Second Vatican Council, [Cardinal Re] affirmed. Even if the merit of calling for and opening the Council falls to Blessed John XXIII, "Paul VI led it with an expert and sure hand, respectful of the Fathers of the Church but firm". For example, "his decision to publish the famous 'Nota praevia', on collegiality and Petrine primacy established the authoritative and proper interpretation of the matter"...

He also "loved and esteemed his day and looked at the modern world with sympathetic eyes, seeking the reconciliation between the modern age and the Christian faith. There are few like him who have known how to read the anxieties, the worries, the desires, and the weariness of the human being in our days. As Pope he made historic gestures and, as these were carried out for the first time by a pontiff, they can be considered 'firsts': He was the first Pope to ride in an airplane; the first to return to Palestine; the first t renounce the crown, earmarking the proceeds of its sale to the poor; the first to go to the United Nations; and the Pope who abolished the pontifical court, bringing a simpler lifestyle to the Pontifical Household". ...