(sold for $55.0)

1964, Vatican, Pope Paul VI. Silver "Papal Visit to the Holy Land" Medal. 44.86gm!

Mint year: 1964 Mint Place: Rome Medallist: Giuseppe Pirrone Denominations: Medal - Papal visit to the Holy Land from 4th-6th January 1964 Condition: A nice matte-proof strike with original dated leather-like cardboard envelope! Material: Silver (.800) Weight: 44.86gm Diameter: 43mm

Obverse: Half-naked figure Jesus Christ resurrecting from stone-tomb (behind him the sun is rising. Legend. PAULUS PP VI PEREGRINUS IN TERRA SANCTA

Reverse: The Holy Family with the Jesus Christ Child, which offers the Church to the Holy Father, accompanied by representatives of other Christian Churches. Legend: CHRISTO ECCLESIAM OFFERT - 4. 6 - 1 - 1964

Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit six continents. He traveled more widely than any of his predecessors, earning the nickname "the Pilgrim Pope". He visited to the Holy Land in 1964. This was the first time a reigning pontiff had flown on an airplane, the first papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the first time a Pope had left Italy in more than a century. Paul VI met King Hussein of Jordan in Amman and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒioˈvanːi baˈtːista enˈriko anˈtonjo marˈija monˈtini]; 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.[9] 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. His liturgical feast is celebrated on the date of his birth on 26 September.