How Did Pope Paul Vi Change The Church

The Pope is the head of the Church: he represents the ultimate religious authority. However, as a Bishop of Rome, the Pope is also in command of certain secular affairs, including some military aspects. Certainly, the Pope is a link between the earthly and the divine realms. Problems arise when the imperfect world the Pope physically lives in interferes with his heavenly objectives. Taking Pope Gregory I as an example, I am going to look at his letters to analyze how he reconciled his political and spiritual goals, whether he valued one category over the other, and how he justified it.

Growing up Catholic, I have always been fascinated by the Pope. This man is the head of my religion, so I was interested in learning the history behind the current Pope, Pope Francis, and his predecessors. I was also interested in finding out how the Pope’s role has changed over time and what each individual has done for the religion as a whole.

The roles of people in the church were redefined, as the Pope established himself clearly as a man of action, and not unreachable ‘God like’ figure. He did not submit to his power and instead worked together and worked for the people to make worshipping Christ more meaningful. The sacraments were developed to involve the congregation and improve the expression of Christian beliefs as the church was modernized and clericalism was removed.

Karol Józef Wojtyła, famously known as Pope John Paul II, was the Bishop of Rome and the pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October 1978 until his death on April 2005. As a pope, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries and the first Polish pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His papacy lasted for 27 years, which is to this day the second longest in history (Blakemore, 2017). He was also one of the most polarizing figures during the late twentieth century. Meanwhile, Pope John Paul II was more than just a pope because he had a different style of papal leadership, diplomacy, and a high charisma unlike his previous predecessors such as Pope Pius XII and Pope Paul VI (Scott, summer of 2000). Pope John Paul II transformed his influence as a pope to a worldwide office and used it to preach more than a billion of people across the globe. According to Scheller, Schaffer, Kurlantzick, Kulman, and Stille (2005), the pope was “a trained actor and philosopher who understood the power of word and symbol and wielded both with precision, whether in meetings with heads of state or before teeming crowds of the faithful (first paragraph).” John Paul II also believed that the church can have a much bigger impact by having world communications from different countries and he delivered the gospel by travelling around different parts of the world. The late pope was also well-known for inventing the World Youth Day, which is bringing about real transformation

St. Paul was a huge influence on the catholic church and he accomplished a lot before his death. One of these accomplishments was his journeys around the world. During these journeys Paul spending the word of God and creating missionaries. Another accomplishment Paul made was his writings. Paul is credited for 13 books in the New Testament. Paul affected the church by giving people hope by telling them the dead would be saved when Christ returns. Paul also evangelized and established churches in different cities. Lastly Paul instructs new Christians to live out their faith in everyday life thought his doctrines.

Martin Luther faced many criticisms within the church. It was noticed that the popes were too concerned with worldly affairs rather than focusing on their church responsibilities and duties. Some had children, which were breaking the vows. Some popes in addition, were poorly educated. Without this proper education, they wouldn’t have a reliable source of knowledge and could

Pope Francis did away with ornate and rigid traditions of previous popes. He restructured core Vatican institutions such as the clerical hierarchy and the banking system, in order to drive out corruption. His messages of simplicity and mercy were engrained in unselfish gestures, such as the washing of offenders feet, (something) , and (something), that helped bring Catholics back into the fold. Yet, for some Catholics, like Maureen Dowd, Pope Francis’ efforts have not changed the church enough.

In the United States, there has often been debate over whether the U.S. Constitution is a “living constitution.” A “living constitution” is the idea that the interpretation of constitutional phrases should take into account the contemporaneous society. In other words, practices and traditions of the government have the ability to change and transform over time in accordance with the changes in society. Similarly, there has often been debate in the religious community as to whether the practices and traditions of the church have the ability to change and transform in order to better suit the needs of its constituents. Two Popes in the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis and Pope Pius IX, have published documents with opposing viewpoints about the church’s ability to change and transform over time. The aforementioned documents also highlight other issues commonly debated within the church. Ultimately, Pope Francis favors a more progressive church, that is opento change, while Pope Pius IX favors a church with more rigid guidelines that follow traditional practices.

He further explained that “the faithful ought not to think that just because priests preside over Mass that they are more important than the people who make up the church itself” (USA Today). Pope Francis is pushing for these reforms in the church because he believes that some of the old traditions in the church are incorrect and immoral and that something needs to change for the better.

For over a period of seven hundred plus years, from Gregory the Great’s papacy to Boniface VIII’s papacy, the world experienced many influential popes, whose accomplishments changed the course of history. Many of these popes become known for both their positive accomplishments, which brought prosperity to their people, and for their failures, which in many cases led to their own death. Throughout the given time period, Pope Nicholas II, Pope Gregory VII, Pope Innocent III, and Pope Gregory IX, were all influential popes whose accomplishments are what they are most remembered for. First, Pope Nicholas II decreed that the College of Cardinals would obtain authority to choose the pope. The College of Cardinals was made up of a group of Roman Church officials who were in charge of electing the pope, which was put in place to prevent kings from selecting popes.

If we travel back to the year 1500, the Church (what we now call the Roman Catholic Church) was very powerful both politically and spiritually in Western Europe. For some time the Church was seen as an institution weighed down by internal power struggles. Popes and Cardinals often lived more like kings than spiritual leaders. Popes claimed political as well as spiritual power. They commanded armies, made political alliances and enemies, and, sometimes, even waged war.

Pope John Paul II like any other religious authority was an opponent of war and denounced it on any such chance he could. During the time period of his reign many wars and massacres took place, and Pope John Paul did everything he could to prevent or shorten these wars such as speaking to the political leaders involved, or saying words of courage and reform to the people. Pope John Paul also played an important role in the fall of communism in his native Poland. Through his words of prayer to the people, his pilgrimages of peace, and the establishment of solidarity John Paul was able to end communism in Poland for good. For this His Holiness also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. John Paul did the same countries such as: Paraguay, Haiti and Chile which were under dictators at the time. One of the most admirable qualities about Pope John Paul II was his love and respect for all other religions. It was often talked about his relations with leaders of all other religions and the religions itself. There were three things that most people say Pope John Paul II loved the most. The first thing was the Eucharist. Many say that once his holiness saw the Eucharist he would get derailed from whatever he was doing and go into deep prayer for several hours, and there was nothing anyone could

wanted to change the church, not create another church or religion, but in doing so he

When the Pope comes to your city, it is not just your ordinary day. Earlier in the summer after three incredibly demanding auditions, I was asked to join the High School Papal Choir. The day I got the email that I was chosen for the Pope’s choir was one of the most exciting days of my life, I knew that this was a once in a lifetime experience, that I was not going to pass up. After spending what seemed like weeks on end practicing in St. Patrick's Cathedral, the day had finally arrived. September 27 2015 was the day the Pope was going to say mass in Philadelphia. I remember on that day waking up three hours before I had to leave to travel to location that was only release hours before hand. After going through three security checkpoints,

A 54-year-old Catholic woman stated in an interview conducted on the topic of the modernization of the church insightfully noted that Vatican II allowed for “practical changes,” like “ music and singing, and women allowed into upfront roles as readers, lectors, and Eucharistic ministers, as well as altar servers in some places.” Vatican II “aimed to produce a different experience of the mass,” but also set out to reposition the church in a relative relationship with the modern world (Mathis).