Blessed Paul VI : of papers and people

(Vatican Radio) In the 1970's, Archbishop Justin Rigali, now Cardinal, was a young priest serving as a  translator to  Paul VI beatified by Pope Francis on Sunday October, 19. He tells Veronica Scarisbrick how the nature of his work enabled him to follow first- hand the issues and decisions that were close to Papa Montini's heart. In his words “Paul VI had a wonderful love for the individuals in the Church”.

A conviction echoed in an anecdote Monsignor Charles Burns once shared with Veronica Scarisbrick which relates to a private audience he had with Paul VI while he was working at the Vatican Secret Archives. An occasion during which Papa Montini offered the following advice: “You are in the archives, don’t think you’re forgotten. I spend almost my entire apostolate at my desk, I have to be careful not to treat the people as though they were papers because behind all the papers are the people. When I have finished with the papers I hand them over to the archives. Don’t treat those papers as papers, treat them as people”.

Listen to Cardinal Justin Rigali and Monsignor Charles Burns in a feature presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick: