Pope Paul VI presides over a meeting of the Second Vatican Council in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in 1963. (CNS photo/Catholic Press Photo)  To learn more about the Second Vatican Council watch The Church Alive series. ...read more

Pope Paul VI makes his way past bishops during a session of the Second Vatican Council in 1964. Pope Paul, who led the church from 1963 until his death in 1978, will be beatified on October 19, 2014. (CNS file photo)  To find out more about the Second Vatican Council watch The Church Alive.   ...read more

Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland, receives the cardinal’s red biretta from Pope Paul VI in the Sistine Chapel June 26, 1967. Pope Paul, who led the church from 1963 until his death in 1978, will be beatified on October 19, 2014. (CNS file photo) To find out more about Paul VI’s contribution to the ...read more

Pope Paul VI greets a girl as he visits the Church of St. Leo the Great in Rome March 31, 1968. Pope Francis will beatify Pope Paul Oct. 19 during the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. (CNS photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo) To learn more about the Pope Paul ...read more

Pope Paul VI waves the starting flag for the Tour of Italy cycling race from the St. Damasus courtyard at the Vatican in this May 16, 1974, file photo. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)  To learn more about the Pope Paul VI and the documents he promulgated, watch The Church Alive series.   ...read more

Pope Paul VI and Cardinal Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I, are pictured in Venice in 1972. Pope Francis will beatify Pope Paul Oct. 19 during the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family.  (CNS photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)  To learn more about the contributions of these great ...read more

Pope Paul VI greets the crowd as he visits the Verano cemetery in Rome in 1973. Pope Francis will beatify Pope Paul Oct. 19 during the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. (CNS photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo) To learn more about the Church’s role in the modern world, watch ...read more

Pope Paul VI is carried on the “sedia gestatoria,” a ceremonial throne, during a meeting of the Second Vatican Council in 1964. Pope Francis will beatify Pope Paul Oct. 19 during the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family. The miracle needed for Pope Paul’s beatification involved the birth of a ...read more

Pope Paul VI  makes a special appeal for world peace in 1965 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. “No more war, war never again,” he declared to the General Assembly. (CNS photo/Yutaka Nagata, U.N.) If you’re interested to find out more about the Holy See’s role at the United Nations check out watch ...read more

Pope Paul VI, right, greets Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople during the pontiff’s 1964 trip to the Holy Land. Pope Paul inaugurated many of the bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogues that continue today. (CNS file photo) Want to learn more about the Church’s work to promote Christian Unity? Check out episode 8 of The ...read more