Pope Paul VI declared 'Blessed'

Blessed Pope Paul VI (1897- 1978)

Pope Paul VI, born Giovanni Battista Montini on September 26, 1897, reigned from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, and fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements.
Montini served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential co-workers of Pope Pius XII, who in 1954, named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most likely successors.
Montini, upon his election to the papacy, took the pontifical name Paul VI to indicate a renewed worldwide mission to spread the message of Christ. He re-convoked the Second Vatican Council, which was automatically closed with the death of John XXIII, and gave it priority and direction.
Paul VI was a Marian devotee, speaking repeatedly to Marian congresses and mariological meetings, visiting Marian shrines and issuing three Marian encyclicals.
He sought dialogue with the world, with other Christians, other religions, and atheists, excluding nobody. He saw himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes of the rich in North America and Europe in favor of the poor in the Third World. His positions on birth control were faced with controversy, especially in Western Europe and North America.

With Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI

His pontificate happened during many significant world events, e.g. the John F. Kennedy assassination only five months after becoming pope, the United States's involvement in the Vietnam War, and the continued Civil Rights Movement in the US (1955–1968.)
Paul VI died on 6 August 1978, the Feast of the Transfiguration, in Castel Gandolfo, after a period of ill health. According to his will, he was buried in the grottos of the Vatican not in an ornate tomb, but in a grave in the ground as he wished. The diocesan process for the beatification of Paul VI began on 11 May 1993, and so he was given the title "Servant of God". On December 20, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, declared that the late pontiff had lived a life of heroic virtue, and was then called "Venerable".
A miracle attributed to the intercession of Paul VI was approved on May 9, 2014 by Pope Francis in an audience with the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The beatification ceremony for Paul VI is tomorrow Sunday October 19, 2014, which means that he will now be called "Blessed".
I have a very special memory and photo with Pope Paul VI, and for that you have to check in tomorrow’s blog.