Pope Paul VI and his namesake

November 11, 2019

In the last audience that I had with Pope Paul VI, I said, 'You're well named, Paul, because you are stoned as Paul was. Stoned by your own, as Paul was stoned when he went from Lystra to Derbe and Antioch in Pisidia.' 'Yes,' he said, 'I open my mail at midnight and in almost every letter there is a thorn. And when I lay my head at night on the pillow, I lay it on a crown of thorns . But I cannot tell you what ineffable joy I have in being able to fill up in my poor flesh the sufferings that are wanting, wanting in the Passion of Christ for the sake of his body which is the Church.'