Pope Paul VI

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Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978) reigned as Pope Paul VI from 1963 to 1978.

He is best remembered for his controversial condemnation of contraceptives in 1968 in his encyclical "Humanae Vitae".

References

Only a few days after Pope Paul VI's condemnation of contraceptives The Mothers performed in Royal Festival Hall. Roy Estrada came on stage dressed as the Pope, chanting Latin prayers, carrying a plastic pail with the inscription "No More Ugly Babies" while throwing Smarties (representing birth-control pills). This scene can be seen in Uncle Meat (The Film) and heard on the track Holding The Group Back on Ahead Of Their Time (1993).

The song "We're All Water" by Yoko Ono on Some Time In New York City (1971) mentions Pope Paul VI.

In the interview Frank Zappa: America's Weirdest Rock Star Comes Clean Zappa tells that he and The Mothers were once asked to perform for the Pope: "We even had an offer to play for the pope. (...) You don't believe me. Pope Paul VI. This is an offer that came into our office. The pope wanted to attract the youth of the world to a speech he wanted to make, and they were going to get all these rock groups to play. Popestock."