Pope Paul VI : one Carmelite's personal witness

(Vatican Radio)  Paul VI was elected to the See of Peter on June 21, 1963 and is to be beatified by Pope Francis on October 19, 2014 at the conclusion of the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family.

A programme produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:  

Born Giovanni Battista Montini  in the northern Italian city of  Brescia he has gone down in history as the first pilgrim pope and  proved to be a determined  innovator when it came to the reform of the Catholic Church. A Church which, as Saint  John XXIII, who preceded him to the papacy famously remarked when he called the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, ' needed to open its windows’.

A Council many say Paul VI would never have called and which placed in his hands a delicate balancing act not just during the runaway speed of this historical moment but also in its aftermath. He was not always understood and shortly after his election wrote:

“ The post is unique: It brings with it great solitude. I was solitary before, but now this solitary feeling becomes complete and awesome…Jesus was alone on the Cross..My solitude will grow. I need have no fears: I should not seek outside help to absolve me from my duty ; my duty is to plan, decide, assume every responsibility for guiding others, even when it seems illogical and perhaps absurd. And to suffer alone …Me and God. The colloquy must be full and endless.”

But beyond this personal note who was Pope Paul VI? In an effort to better get to know him Veronica Scarisbrick shares  excerpts from an archive interview with someone who actually knew him.  He’s the late Carmelite Father Redemptus Valabek.