Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini, was born 26 September, 1897 near Brescia, Italy. Ordained a priest in 1920, he was eventually recruited for the Vatican diplomatic service. For thirty years he worked at the Vatican Secretariat of State. In 1954 he was named archbishop of Milan, where he sought to win disaffected workers back to the Catholic Church. In 1958, Montini was the first of twenty-three cardinals named by Pope John XXIII, and helped in preparing Vatican II. Elected pope in June 1963 and taking the name Paul VI, he continued the work of the Council which concluded on 8 December 1965. The previous day, Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras revoked the excommunications that their predecessors had made in 1054. Paul VI increased the number of cardinals significantly, giving many countries their first cardinal; he also instituted a permanent observer mission at the United Nations (1964). Paul VI wrote seven encyclicals, including Ecclesiam Suam (1964), Populorum Progressio (1967), and Humanæ Vitæ (1968). Other writings included Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975) and Marialis Cultus (1974). Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo on 6 August 1978. He was beatified on 19 October 2014 and canonized 14 October 2018.