Pope Paul VI On 6 August 1978 at 21:41 Paul VI died in Castel Gandolfo. According to the terms of his will, he was buried in the "true earth" and therefore, he does not have an ornate sarcophagus but in practice beneath the floor of Saint Peter's Basilica, though in an area of the basilica's crypt near the tombs of other popes. His position mirrors the statements attributed to Pius XI: "a Pope may suffer but he must be able to function" and by Pius XII. Pope Paul, reflecting on Hamlet, wrote the following in a private note in 1978: His confessor, the
Pope John Paul II a candidate to win the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, which was ultimately awarded to Iranian attorney/judge and noted human rights advocate, Shirin Ebadi. In 1984 and 1986, through Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, John Paul II officially condemned aspects of liberation theology, which had many followers in South America. Visiting Europe, Óscar Romero unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a Vatican condemnation of El Salvador's regime, for violations of human rights and its support of death squads. In his travel to Managua, Nicaragua, in 1983, John Paul II harshly condemned