Paul VI

Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) was elected as successor to Pope John XXIII who died in 1963, right in the middle of the Second Vatican Council. Thus, Pope Paul VI was the overseer of the second, third, and fourth sessions of Vatican II. He was the first modern pope to travel widely (to Israel, India, the U.S., Uganda, Columbia, and East Asia) and the first pope ever to travel by air. He appointed several cardinals from churches in non-European countries. He also issued the controversial encyclical Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s ban on artificial contraception.