This 1965 bronze smaller-than-life sculpture depicts Pope Paul VI seated in his papal robes and wearing his mitre. His face seems small in relation to the robes he wears.
The artist is Lello Scorzelli.
Wikipedia (
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"Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini[a] ...26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978), reigned 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 co-workers of Pope Pius XII, who in 1954 named him Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini automatically 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 pontifical name Paul VI (the first to take the name "Paul" since 1605) to indicate a renewed worldwide mission to spread the message of Christ. He re-convoked 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 (see Humanae vitae) and other issues were often controversial, especially in Western Europe and North America.
Paul VI died on 6 August 1978, the Feast of the Transfiguration, in Castel Gandolfo, after a period of ill health. According to his will, he was buried in the grottos of the Vatican not in an ornate tomb, but in a grave in the ground. The diocesan process for the beatification of Paul VI began on 11 May 1993, and he was given the title "Servant of God". The diocesan process concluded its work in 1998."