Pope Paul VI likely to be beatified this year –report

Another pontiff may be one step closer to sainthood amid the euphoria over the twin canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, a report said. 
 

According to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the weekly Italian magazine "Credere" (or "Believe") "has predicted" that Pope Paul VI, successor of now St. John XXIII, will be beatified this year, following the validation of a miracle attributed to his intercession.

 

Quoting from the magazine's forthcoming issue, the NCR report said the miracle attributed to Pope Paul VI is up for approval in the meeting of members of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints on Monday, May 5.

 

Once approved, Pope Francis will likely proclaim Paul VI's beatification at the end of the Synod of Bishops in October, it added.

 

A separate report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer said Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is one of the three co-chairpersons appointed by Pope Francis to preside over the synod.

 

The miracle, which dates back in the 1990s, involves a baby in California who was born healthy despite a "severe" diagnosis due to complications during the pregnancy, the report said.

 

Doctors said the baby was likely to either die in the womb or "be born with seriously damaged kidneys," it added. This led them to advise the mother to terminate the pregnancy, but she prayed to Paul VI instead, with the image of the late pontiff and "a remnant of his vestments" placed on her stomach.

 

The "inexplicable" turnabout in the child's birth and recovery was "officially" confirmed by medical experts in 2013, ten years after the Vatican launched official inquiries about the case, the NCR report said, quoting the "Credere."

 

It added that the identity of the family has yet to be revealed.

 

First pope to visit PHL

 

Paul VI, or Giovanni Battista Montini, was cardinal archbishop of Milan before taking over the papacy in 1963.

One of the most traveled pontiffs in history, he was the first one to visit the Philippines in 1971, where he escaped an assassination attempt at the then Manila International Airport. 
 

His pontificate saw the completion of the Second Vatican Council, and he kept the seat until his death on August 6, 1978, less than a month after he issued his last encyclical, "Humanae Vitae" (Latin for "Of Human Life").

 

Deemed "most controversial" among the eight he wrote during his papacy, the encyclical reiterated the Catholic church's traditional ban on contraception and abortion.

 

Paul VI was declared "Servant of God" by John Paul II in 1993 and "Venerable" by Benedict XVI in 2012. —Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/KG, GMA News