Owner Comments:
VATICAN CITY
1963 500 LIRE - Pope Paul VI
PCGS MS64 (PCGS Certification #:38440330)
SPECIFICATIONS
Composition: Silver
Fineness: .8350
Weight: 11.0 grams
AWS: .2953 oz
Engraver: Giampacoli
Catalog #: KM-83.1
Holder: PCGS Gold Shield
OBVERSE DESIGN
Bust of Pope Paul VI. Inscruptions: "PAVLVS VI", "PONT. MAX", "AN I".
REVERSE DESIGN
Papal Coat of Arms. Inscriptions: "CITTA' DEL VATICANO", "LIRE 500", and "1963".
Paul VI was pope from June 21, 1963 - August 6, 1978.
Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI), was born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 - 6 August 1978), reigned as Pope from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, and fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestants, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. Montini served in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954. While in the Secretariat of State, Montini and Domenico Tardini were considered as the closest and most influential colleagues of Pope Pius XII, who in 1954 named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini later became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference. John XXIII elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after the death of John XXIII, Montini was considered one of his most likely successors.
Upon his election to the papacy, Montini took the name Paul VI. He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which was automatically closed with the death of John XXIII, and gave it priority and direction. After the council had concluded its work, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, often walking a thin line between the conflicting expectations of various groups within Catholicism. The magnitude and depth of the reforms affecting all fields of Church life during his pontificate exceeded similar reform policies of his predecessors and successors. Paul VI was a Marian devotee, speaking repeatedly to Marian congresses and mariological meetings, visiting Marian shrines and issuing three Marian encyclicals. Following his famous predecessor Saint Ambrose of Milan, he named Mary as the Mother of the Church during the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI sought dialogue with the world, with other Christians, other religions, and atheists, excluding nobody. He saw himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes of the rich in North America and Europe in favour of the poor in the Third World. His positions on birth control, promulgated most famously in the 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, and other political issues, were often controversial, especially in Western Europe and North America.
Pope Benedict XVI declared that the late pontiff lived a life of heroic virtue and conferred the title of Venerable upon him. Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014 after the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession and he was canonized on October 14, 2018. Since 2019 his liturgical feast has been celebrated on May 29.
Purchased in Heritage Auctions June 2023 HIKINF World Coins Platinum Session & Signature Auction - Hong Kong #3108 / Lot #32552.