Paul VI

During Pope Paul's reign (1963-1978) more changes were introduced in the Catholic Church than in all previous centuries combined, not least due to the Second Vatican Council. His pontificate defined the papacy's new role and, amid great socio-political upheaval on a worldwide scale, safeguarded the substance of the Catholic faith intact - for example, in his much ignored encyclical on birth control, Humanae Vitae, now widely accepted as a prophetic document. Naturally diffident and shy, all that he achieved had a considerable spiritual and personal cost.