The papacy of Paul VI (1963-78) took place during a tumultuous time: Initially, he had to conclude the Second Vatican Council, which earned him recognition. He was the first pope to travel the world, building bridges to Orthodoxy, Judaism, and the communist East, and through his commitment to peace, development, and justice, he became known as the "first modern pope." The worldwide negative response to his encyclical "Humanae vitae," in which he prohibited all forms of artificial contraception, hit him particularly hard. Within the Church, conservatives viewed him as too liberal, while progressives saw him as too reactionary—a conflict that wore down his principled personality. The growing temporal distance increasingly reveals the extraordinary significance of this papacy.