Paul VI, Saint: Reassertions of Papal Primacy

Reassertions of Papal Primacy

The broader international outlook of the Vatican under Paul VI was matched by a new ecumenism. The pope met with the leaders of other churches and addressed (1969) the World Council of Churches, and limited doctrinal agreements were reached with the Anglicans and Lutherans. Such accords, however, did not represent any modification of the papal claim to spiritual leadership of the whole Christian Church, nor of the doctrine of papal infallibility. In fact, Pope Paul issued frequent reassertions of papal primacy in the face of growing dissent within the Roman Catholic Church itself.

In 1968, in the encyclical Humanae Vitae, Paul reaffirmed the church's long-standing ban on contraception. The encyclical, a disappointment to many liberals within the church, raised a storm of protest, and many national hierarchies openly modified the statement. In the ferment that ensued, liberals also raised questions about priestly celibacy, divorce, and the role of women in the church—all issues on which Paul upheld the traditional position of the church. The dispute developed into a real contest of strength between the Vatican and the Dutch hierarchy in particular, which in 1970 endorsed the marriage of priests and the admission of women into the priesthood. The synod of bishops in 1971 supported the pope's stand on priestly celibacy, but a sizable minority were opposed. At the synod of bishops of 1974, assembled to discuss “evangelization in the modern world,” Pope Paul disapproved the bishops' proposal for greater autonomy for the local churches. He was succeeded briefly by John Paul I and then by John Paul II. Paul VI was canonized by Pope Francis in 2018.

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