Editing Pope Paul VI (section)

==Final years and death==

===Allegations of homosexuality===
In 1976 Paul VI became the first pontiff in the modern era to deny the accusation of [[Homosexuality and Catholicism|homosexuality]]. On 29 December 1975, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document entitled ''Persona Humana: Declaration on Certain Questions concerning Sexual Ethics'', that reaffirmed church teaching that premarital or extramarital sex, homosexual activity, and masturbation are sinful acts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html|title=Persona Humana – Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=15 March 2020|archive-date=27 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627220159/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hitchens |first=Christopher |title=Christopher Hitchens on the death of Pope Paul VI |work=New Statesman |date=28 February 2013 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/02/christopher-hitchens-death-pope-paul-vi |access-date=6 October 2015 |archive-date=7 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007031137/http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/02/christopher-hitchens-death-pope-paul-vi |url-status=live }}</ref> In response, [[Roger Peyrefitte]], who had already written in two of his books that Paul VI had a longtime homosexual relationship, repeated his charges in a magazine interview with a French gay magazine that, when reprinted in Italian, brought the rumours to a wider public and caused an uproar. He said that the Pope was a hypocrite who had a longtime sexual relationship with an actor.<ref>Peyrefitte, Roger ''Mea culpa? Ma fatemi il santo piacere'', ''Tempo'', 4 April 1976.</ref><ref name="Observer">{{cite news |last=Torress |first=Jose |agency=Associated Press |title=Paul VI Denies He Is Homosexual |work=Observer Reporter |date=5 April 1976 |page=27 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19760405&id=6G5eAAAAIBAJ&pg=1676,395778&hl=en |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308202249/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19760405&id=6G5eAAAAIBAJ&pg=1676,395778&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Bellegrandi, Franco ''Nichitaroncalli: Controvita Di Un Papa'', Edizioni Internazionale Di Letterature E Scienze (EILES), Rome 2009. English edition: ''Nikitaroncalli: Counterlife of a Pope''</ref> Widespread rumours identified the actor as [[Paolo Carlini]],<ref name="Posner">{{cite book |last=Posner |first=Gerald |title=God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican |date=2015 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=173}}</ref> who had a small part in the [[Audrey Hepburn]] film ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' (1953). In a brief address to a crowd of approximately 20,000 in St Peter's Square on 18 April 1976, Paul VI called the charges "horrible and slanderous insinuations" and appealed for prayers on his behalf. Special prayers for the Pope were said in all Italian Catholic churches in "a day of consolation".<ref name="Observer" /><ref name="Posner" />{{efn|In 1984, [[Paul Hofmann]], a former correspondent for ''[[The New York Times]]'', repeated the allegations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hoffman |first= Paul | title=Oh Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View Of The Holy See | publisher= Congdon & Weed |location= New York |date=1984 |page=151}}</ref>}} The charges have resurfaced periodically. In 1994, Franco Bellegrandi, a former Vatican honour chamberlain and correspondent for the Vatican newspaper ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'', alleged that Paul VI had been blackmailed and had promoted other gay men to positions of power within the Vatican.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bellegrandi |first= Franco |title=Nichita Roncalli – Controvita di un Papa| location= Rome |publisher= Editizioni Internazionale di Letterature e Scienze | date= 1994 |pages= 85–86, 91–92}}</ref> In 2006, the newspaper ''[[L'Espresso]]'' reported that the private papers of police commander General Giorgio Manes confirmed the blackmail story as true, and that Italian Prime Minister [[Aldo Moro]] had been asked to help.<ref name="Posner" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Dino |first=Martirano |date=27 January 2006 |title=Dossier su un tentato ricatto a Paolo VI |language=it |work=Corriere Della Sera |url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/gennaio/27/Dossier_tentato_ricatto_Paolo_VI_co_9_060127066.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017184849/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/gennaio/27/Dossier_tentato_ricatto_Paolo_VI_co_9_060127066.shtml |archive-date=17 October 2014}}</ref>

===Health===
[[File:Paolo VI e Luciani.jpg|thumb|right|185px|Paul VI with [[Albino Luciani]] (the future John Paul I) in [[Venice]]]]
Paul VI had been in good health prior to his pontifical election. His health following his papal election took a turn when he needed to undergo a serious operation to treat an enlarged [[prostate]]. The Pope procrastinated in this but relented in November 1967; the operation took place on a simple table in an improvised operating theatre in the papal apartments by a team led by Professor [[Pietro Valdoni]]. The Vatican was delicate in their description of what the Pope underwent and referred to it as "the malaise from which the Holy Father had been suffering for weeks". As a result of the delay in having the operation, the Pope had to wear a [[catheter]] for a period following the operation and still was by December.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/pope-and-president-paul-vi-and-lyndon-b-johnson|title=Pope and President, Paul VI and Lyndon B. Johnson: Christmas on the Tiber, Texas Style|date=25 September 2015|author=Joseph McAuley|magazine=America Magazine|access-date=22 May 2018|archive-date=22 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522181141/https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/pope-and-president-paul-vi-and-lyndon-b-johnson|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Pope discussed business from his bed about 48 hours after the operation with Cardinal [[Amleto Giovanni Cicognani]] and at that point was off [[intravenous feeding]] in favour of orange juice and hot broth. Cardinal Cicognani said the Pope was "in good general condition" and that he spoke in a "clear and firm voice". The Pope's two brothers also visited him at his bedside following a "tranquil night" for the Pope. The doctors also reported the Pope's condition to have been "excellent".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19671106.2.4|title=Desert Sun 6 November 1967 — California Digital Newspaper Collection|website=cdnc.ucr.edu|access-date=22 May 2018|archive-date=22 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522181538/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19671106.2.4|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Kidnapping and killing of Aldo Moro===
[[File:Aldo Moro br.jpg|thumb|[[Aldo Moro]], photographed during his kidnapping by the [[Red Brigades]] in 1978]]
On 16 March 1978, former [[Prime Minister of Italy|Italian prime minister]] [[Aldo Moro]]—a friend of Paul VI's from his FUCI student days—was kidnapped by a far-left Italian terrorist group known as the [[Red Brigades]]. The kidnapping kept the country and the Pope in suspense for 55 days.<ref>Hebblethwaite 699</ref> On 20 April, Moro directly appealed to the Pope to intervene as [[Pope Pius XII]] had intervened in the case of Professor [[Giuliano Vassalli]] in the same situation.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 700-701">Hebblethwaite 700–701</ref> The eighty-year-old Paul VI wrote a letter to the [[Red Brigades]]:

{{blockquote|I have no mandate to speak to you, and I am not bound by any private interests in his regard. But I love him as a member of the great human family as a friend of student days and by a very special title as a brother in faith and as a son of the Church of Christ. I make an appeal that you will certainly not ignore. On my knees I beg you, free Aldo Moro, simply without conditions, not so much because of my humble and well-meaning intercession, but because he shares with you the common dignity of a brother in humanity. Men of the Red Brigades, leave me, the interpreter of the voices of so many of our fellow citizens, the hope that in your heart feelings of humanity will triumph. In prayer and always loving you I await proof of that.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 700-701"/>}}

Some in the Italian government accused the Pope of treating the Red Brigades too kindly. Paul VI continued looking for ways to pay ransom for Moro, but his efforts were fruitless. On 9 May, the bullet-riddled body of Aldo Moro was found in a car in Rome.<ref>Hebblethwaite 706</ref> Pope Paul VI later celebrated his State Funeral Mass.

===Final days===
[[File:Basilica National Shrine Immaculate Conception DC 25.JPG|thumb|left|Paul VI's [[List of papal tiaras in existence|papal tiara]], now in the Crypt of the [[Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception]]]]Pope Paul VI left the [[Apostolic Palace|Vatican]] to go to the papal summer residence, the [[Palace of Castel Gandolfo]], on 14 July 1978, visiting on the way the tomb of Cardinal [[Giuseppe Pizzardo]],<ref name="Hebblethwaite 707">Hebblethwaite 707</ref> who had introduced him to the Vatican half a century earlier. Although he was sick, he agreed to see the new [[President of Italy|Italian President]] [[Sandro Pertini]] for over two hours. In the evening he watched a [[Western (genre)|Western]] on television, happy only when he saw "horses, the most beautiful animals that God had created."<ref name="Hebblethwaite 707" /> He had breathing problems and needed oxygen. On Sunday, at the [[Feast of the Transfiguration]], he was tired, but wanted to say the [[Angelus]]. He was neither able nor permitted to do so and instead stayed in bed, his temperature rising.

===Death===
[[File:Negativos 2934.jpg|thumb|Paul VI's body in the Vatican after his death]]
[[File:SanctusPaulusVI.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Paul VI following his canonisation in October 2018]]

From his bed he participated in Sunday Mass at 18:00. After receiving communion, the Pope suffered a massive heart attack, after which he lived on for three more hours. On 6 August 1978 at 21:41, Paul VI died in Castel Gandolfo.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 707" /> Before he died, the pontiff had been lucid after the first heart attack. An hour before his death, he said he felt dizzy and asked those present to continue the prayers in his stead. Present at his bedside at the time of his death were Cardinal [[Jean-Marie Villot]], Bishop [[Giuseppe Caprio]], and his personal secretary [[Pasquale Macchi]], as well as two nuns and his personal physician. By the time the Pope died, he was already confined to bed due to a flare up in his chronic joint arthritis and could not get up to personally celebrate the Mass.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lmtribune.com/flashback/pope-paul-vi-dies/article_3d7a3b76-36f8-5040-8dc5-a8641baa920e.html|title=Pope Paul VI dies|publisher=Lewiston Tribune|date=7 August 1978|accessdate=10 February 2022|archive-date=24 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124082904/https://lmtribune.com/flashback/pope-paul-vi-dies/article_3d7a3b76-36f8-5040-8dc5-a8641baa920e.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Upon the initial heart attack, the Pope was immediately given oxygen; however, the Holy See indicated that his heart condition was aggravated by a [[pulmonary edema]], or the seeping of fluid into the lungs.

[[Syria]]<ref name="larouchepub.com">{{Cite web |title=World Leaders Mourn Pope Paul VI |url=https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1978/eirv05n32-19780822/eirv05n32-19780822_033-world_leaders_mourn_pope_paul_vi.pdf |access-date=11 September 2023 |website=larouchepub.com |archive-date=6 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506165530/https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1978/eirv05n32-19780822/eirv05n32-19780822_033-world_leaders_mourn_pope_paul_vi.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=November 2023}} declared nine days of mourning; [[Egypt]] declared seven days of mourning;<ref name="Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History, Music 2018 z055">{{cite web | title=August 7, 1978 – CBS Radio – The World Tonight – Gordon Skene Sound Collection | website=Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History, Music | date=2018-08-07 | url=https://pastdaily.com/2018/08/07/august-7-1978-death-of-a-pope-nine-days-of-mourning-choosing-a-successor-the-view-from-castel-gandolfo/ | access-date=2023-11-30 | archive-date=24 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124002538/https://pastdaily.com/2018/08/07/august-7-1978-death-of-a-pope-nine-days-of-mourning-choosing-a-successor-the-view-from-castel-gandolfo/ | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bolivia]] declared five days of mourning;<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pixilegal.com/normativa/decreto-15703-1978-08-07 | title=Decreto Supremo 15703 &#124; Bolivia }}</ref> [[Spain]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1978-20497 | title=BOE.es - BOE-A-1978-20497 Real Decreto 1854/1978, de 7 de agosto, por el que se declara luto nacional por el fallecimiento de Su Santidad el Papa Pablo VI | access-date=22 May 2022 | archive-date=22 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522100425/https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1978-20497 | url-status=live }}</ref> declared four days of mourning; [[Brazil]],<ref name="larouchepub.com"/>{{unreliable source?|date=November 2023}} [[Italy]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.manchesterhistory.org/News/Manchester%20Evening%20Hearld_1978-08-07.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=www.manchesterhistory.org |access-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831153159/http://www.manchesterhistory.org/News/Manchester%20Evening%20Hearld_1978-08-07.pdf |archive-date=31 August 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Lebanon]]<ref name="Washington Post 1978 g245">{{cite news | title=World Reacts With Disbelief And Concern | newspaper=Washington Post | date=1978-09-30 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/09/30/world-reacts-with-disbelief-and-concern/b028ccdb-8f52-4bde-9e63-31f56aebc665/ | access-date=2023-11-30 | archive-date=26 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326025753/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/09/30/world-reacts-with-disbelief-and-concern/b028ccdb-8f52-4bde-9e63-31f56aebc665/ | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Portugal]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://casacomum.org/cc/visualizador?pasta=06829.179.28214#!5 | title=06829.179.28214 }}</ref> and [[Zaire]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/08/08/east-west-laud-paul-vi-as-man-of-peace/17d6dab5-4eb2-4a00-9bb0-a1ce09ae379f/ |title=East, West Laud Paul VI as Man of Peace |date=8 August 1978 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409 |access-date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032012/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/08/08/east-west-laud-paul-vi-as-man-of-peace/17d6dab5-4eb2-4a00-9bb0-a1ce09ae379f/ |url-status=live }}</ref> declared three days of mourning; The [[Philippines]] declared one day of mourning.<ref>[https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1978/08/10/proclamation-no-1765-a-s-1978-2/ "Proclamation No. 1765-a, s. 1978"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913055144/https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1978/08/10/proclamation-no-1765-a-s-1978-2/ |date=13 September 2021 }} (10 August 1978). ''Official Gazette'' (officialgazette.gov.ph). Retrieved 19 June 2022.</ref>

Paul VI left a will and a spiritual testament.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tanner |first=Henry |date=9 August 1978 |title=Vatican. Workmen Prepare a Tomb for Pope Paul in Crypt Beneath St. Peter's Basilica |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/08/09/archives/vatican-workmen-prepare-a-tomb-for-pope-paul-in-crypt-beneath-st.html |access-date=22 January 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122165454/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/08/09/archives/vatican-workmen-prepare-a-tomb-for-pope-paul-in-crypt-beneath-st.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Those were released by the Vatican shortly after his death. In it, he asked for his burial to be simple, and that his correspondence, personal memos and other writings be destroyed. He also legated all his belongings to the Vatican.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Claiborne |first=William |date=12 August 1978 |title=Pope Paul's Funeral to Be Held Today |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/08/12/pope-pauls-funeral-to-be-held-today/b7ac40d1-294e-42e0-b6ce-ace7f4475aae/ |access-date=22 January 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122170139/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/08/12/pope-pauls-funeral-to-be-held-today/b7ac40d1-294e-42e0-b6ce-ace7f4475aae/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Paul VI does not have an ornate [[sarcophagus]], but is buried in a grave beneath the floor of [[Saint Peter's Basilica]], in the [[Vatican Grottoes]] near the tombs of other popes.<ref>{{cite news |author=Kenneth A. Briggs |date=7 August 1978 |title=Pope Paul VI Is Dead of a Heart Attack at 80; Guided the Church Through Era of Change |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0926.html |url-status=dead |access-date=21 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010614192146/https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0926.html |archive-date=14 June 2001}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=September 2019}}

His position mirrors the statements attributed to [[Pius XI]]: "a Pope may suffer but he must be able to function" and by Pius XII.<ref>{{cite journal|first = Robert|last = Leiber|title = Pius XII|publisher = [[Stimmen der Zeit]]|date = December 1958}}</ref> Pope Paul, reflecting on ''[[Hamlet]]'', wrote the following in a private note in 1978:{{Blockquote|What is my state of mind? Am I Hamlet? Or [[Don Quixote]]? On the left? On the right? I do not think I have been properly understood. I am filled with 'great joy (Superabundo gaudio)' With all our affliction, I am overjoyed (2 Cor 2:4).<ref>{{Citation|first=Cathal B|last=Daly|title=Steps on my Pilgrim Journey|publisher=Veritas |year=1998}}</ref>}}

His confessor, the [[Jesuit]] [[Paolo Dezza]], said that "this pope is a man of great joy",{{Sfn| Hebblethwaite|1993|p=339}} and that:

<blockquote>If Paul VI was not a saint, when he was elected Pope, he became one during his pontificate. I was able to witness not only with what energy and dedication he toiled for Christ and the Church but also and above all, how much he suffered for Christ and the Church. I always admired not only his deep inner resignation but also his constant abandonment to divine providence.{{Sfn|Hebblethwaite|1993|p=600}} </blockquote>