Pope Paul IV |
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Bishop of Rome | |
Papacy began | 23 May 1555 |
Papacy ended | 18 August 1559 |
Predecessor | Marcellus II |
Successor | Pius IV |
Orders | |
Consecration | 18 September 1505 |
Created Cardinal | 22 December 1536 by Paul III |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Gian Pietro Carafa |
Born |
Capriglia Irpina, Kingdom of Naples |
28 June 1476
Died | 18 August 1559 Rome, Papal States |
(aged 83)
Papal styles of Pope Paul IV |
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Reference style | His Holiness |
Spoken style | Your Holiness |
Religious style | Holy Father |
Posthumous style | None |
Pope Paul IV, C.R. (Latin: Paulus IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559), born Gian Pietro Carafa, was Pope from 23 May 1555 to his death in 1559. While serving as papal nuncio in Spain, he developed an anti-Spanish outlook that later coloured his papacy, and resulted in the Papal States suffering a serious military defeat in the Italian War of 1551–59.
Carafa was appointed bishop of Chieti, but resigned in 1524 in order to found with St. Cajetan the Congregation of Clerics Regular (Theatines). Recalled to Rome, and made Archbishop of Naples, he was instrumental in setting up the Roman Inquisition, and was opposed to any dialogue with the emerging Protestant party in Europe. Carafa was elected pope in 1555 through the influence of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in the face of opposition from Emperor Charles V. His papacy was characterized by strong nationalism in reaction to the influence of Philip II of Spain and the Habsburgs. He compelled the Jews of Rome to wear distinctive clothing and confine themselves to a ghetto. The appointment of Carlo Carafa as Cardinal Nephew damaged the papacy further when Paul was forced to remove him from office following a scandal. He curbed many clerical abuses in Rome but his methods were seen as harsh.
Gian Pietro Carafa was born in Capriglia Irpina, near Avellino, into a prominent noble family of Naples. His father Giovanni Antonio Carafa died in West Flanders in 1516 and his mother Vittoria Camponeschi was the daughter of Pietro Lalle Camponeschi, 5th Conte di Montorio, a Neapolitan nobleman, and wife Dona Maria de Noronha, a Portuguese noblewoman of the House of Pereira.