Pope Paul VI

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Montini had just one foreign posting in the diplomatic service of the Holy See as Secretary in the office of the papal nuncio to Poland in 1923. Of the nationalism he experienced there he wrote: "This form of nationalism treats foreigners as enemies, especially foreigners with whom one has common frontiers. Then one seeks the expansion of one's own country at the expense of the immediate neighbours. People grow up with a feeling of being hemmed in. Peace becomes a transient compromise between wars." He described his experience in Warsaw as "useful, though not always joyful". When he became pope, the Communist government of Poland refused him permission to visit Poland on a Marian pilgrimage.

His organisational skills led him to a career in the Roman Curia, the papal civil service. On 19 October 1925, he was appointed a papal chamberlain in the rank of Supernumerary Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness. In 1931, Pacelli appointed him to teach history at the Pontifical Academy for Diplomats; he was promoted to Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on 8 July of the same year. On 24 September 1936, he was appointed a Referendary Prelate of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

On 16 December 1937, after his mentor Giuseppe Pizzardo was named a cardinal and was succeeded by Domenico Tardini, Montini was named Substitute for Ordinary Affairs under Cardinal Pacelli, the Secretary of State. His immediate supervisor was Domenico Tardini, with whom he got along well. He was further appointed Consultor of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office and of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation on 24 December, and was promoted to Protonotary Apostolic (ad instar participantium), the most senior class of papal prelate, on 10 May 1938.

Pacelli became Pope Pius XII in 1939 and confirmed Montini's appointment as Substitute under the new Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Maglione. In that role, roughly that of a chief of staff, he met the pope every morning until 1954 and developed a rather close relationship with him. Of his service to two popes he wrote:

When war broke out, Maglione, Tardini, and Montini were the principal figures in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See. Montini was in charge of taking care of the "ordinary affairs" of the Secretariat of State, which took much of the mornings of every working day. In the afternoon he moved to the third floor into the Office of the Private Secretary of the Pontiff. Pius XII did not have a personal secretary. As did several popes before him, he delegated the secretarial functions he needed to the Secretariat of State. During the war years, thousands of letters from all parts of the world arrived at the desk of the pope, most of them asking for understanding, prayer, and help. Montini's task was to formulate the replies in the name of Pius XII, expressing his empathy, and understanding and providing help, where possible.

At the request of the pope, Montini created an information office regarding prisoners of war and refugees, which from 1939 until 1947 received almost ten million requests for information about missing persons and produced over eleven million replies. Montini was several times attacked by Benito Mussolini's government for meddling in politics, but the Holy See consistently defended him. When Maglione died in 1944, Pius XII appointed Tardini and Montini together as joint heads of Secretariat of State, each with the title of Pro-Secretary of State. Montini's admiration was almost filial when he described Pope Pius XII:

As Pro-Secretary of State, Montini coordinated the activities of assistance to the persecuted hidden in convents, parishes, seminaries, and in Catholic schools. At the request of the pope, Montini established together with Ferdinando Baldelli and Otto Faller the Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza (Pontifical Commission for Assistance), which aided large number of Romans and refugees from everywhere with shelter, food and other material assistance. In Rome alone this organisation distributed almost two million portions of free food in 1944. The Papal Residence of Castel Gandolfo was opened to refugees, as was Vatican City in so far as space allowed. Some 15,000 persons lived in Castel Gandolfo alone, supported by the Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza. At the request of Pius XII, Montini was also involved in the re-establishment of Church Asylum, providing protection to hundreds of Allied soldiers, who had escaped from Axis prison camps, Jews, anti-Fascists, Socialists, Communists, and after the liberation of Rome, German soldiers, partisans, displaced persons and others. As pope in 1971, Montini turned the Pontificia Commissione di Assistenza into Caritas Italiana.

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