Pope Paul V

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Paul V

Birth name	Camillo Borghese
Papacy began	May 16, 1605
Papacy ended	January 28, 1621
Predecessor	Leo XI
Successor	Gregory XV
Born	September 17, 1552 Rome, Italy
Died	January 28, 1621 Rome, Italy
Other Popes named Paul

Pope Paul V (Rome, September 17, 1552 – January 28, 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was Pope from May 16, 1605 until his death.

1 Early life
2 Cardinal
3 Papacy
4 Foreign relations
5 Construction
6 Later life and death
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Early life

He was born as Camillo Borghese into a noble family of Siena which had recently fled to Rome, and ROMANUS appears in most of his inscriptions. He was a lawyer educated at Perugia and Padua.

[edit] Cardinal

In June 1596 he was made cardinal and Cardinal-Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII.

[edit] Papacy

[edit] Election

Image:Paulo 5.jpg

When Pope Leo XI died (April 27, 1605) Cardinal Borghese became Pope over a number of candidates including Caesar Baronius and Robert Bellarmine, his neutrality in the factional times made him an ideal compromise candidate. In character he was very stern and unyielding, a lawyer rather than diplomat, who defended the privileges of the Church to his utmost. His first act was to send home to their sees the bishops who were sojourning in Rome, for the Council of Trent had insisted that every bishop reside in his diocese.

[edit] Theology

Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy. A letter from Bellarmine to Galileo, however, states only the injunction that the heliocentric ideas could not be defended or held; this letter was written expressly to enable to Galileo to defend himself against rumors concerning what had happened in the meeting with Bellarmine.

[edit] Canonizations and Beatifications

He canonized Charles Borromeo (November 1, 1610) and Frances of Rome. He beatified a number of individuals, including Ignatius Loyola, Philip Neri, Theresa of Avila, and Francis Xavier.

[edit] Foreign relations

[edit] Ecclesiastical jurisdiction

Paul's insistence of ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to a number of quarrels between the Church and the secular governments of various states, notably Venice, where the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the civil courts was a sore point. Venice passed two laws obnoxious to Paul, one forbidding the alienation of real estate in favor of the clergy, the second demanding approval of the civil power for the building of new churches. Two priests had been found guilty and committed to prison. Paul insisted that they be released to the Church. The Venetian position was ably defended by a canon lawyer, Paolo Sarpi, who extended the matter to general principles defining separate secular and ecclesiastical spheres. In April 1606 the Pope took the step of excommunicating the entire government of Venice and placed an interdict on the city. All clergy sided with the city, however, with the exception of the Jesuits, the Theatines, and the Capuchins, who were expelled from Venetian territories. Masses continued to be said in Venice, and the feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated with outstanding public pomp and magnificence, to the Pope's chagrin. Within a year (March 1607) the disagreement was mediated by France and Spain. The Most Serene Republic refused to retract the laws, but asserted that Venice would conduct herself "with her accustomed piety." The Jesuits, considered subversive Papal agents, remained banned. No more could be expected. The Pope withdrew his censure.

[edit] Relations with England

Paul's hard-edged Catholic diplomacy cut the ground from under moderate Catholics in England. His letter of July 9, 1606 to congratulate James I on his accession to the throne was three years late and seemed to English eyes merely a preamble to what followed, and his reference to the Gunpowder Plot, made against the life of the monarch and all the members of Parliament the previous November, was unfortunate, for papal agents were considered by the English to have been involved. But he prays James not to make the innocent Catholics suffer for the crime of a few. He promises to exhort all the Catholics of the realm to be submissive and loyal to their sovereign— in all things not opposed to the honor of God. Unfortunately the oath of allegiance James demanded of his subjects contained clauses to which no 17th century Catholic could in conscience subscribe: the oath of allegiance was solemnly condemned in a brief published a matter of weeks later (September 22, 1606, extended August 23, 1607). This condemnation served only to divide English Catholics. The other irritant in English relations was Cardinal Robert Bellarmine's letter to the English archpriest Blackwell, reproaching him for having taken the oath of allegiance in apparent disregard of his duty to the Pope. The letter received enough circulation to be referred to in one of James's theological essays (1608), and Bellarmine was soon fencing in a pamphlet exchange with the King of England.

[edit] Relations with Japan

In November 1615, Paul V welcomed the embassy of the Japanese samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga in Rome. Hasekura remitted to the Pope a gilted letter, containing a request for a trade treaty between Japan and Mexico and the dispatch of Christian missionaries to Japan. The Pope agreed to the dispatch of missionaries, but left the decision for trade to the King of Spain.

[edit] Construction

In Rome the Pope financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, and improved the Vatican Library. He restored the Aqua Traiana, an ancient Roman Aqueduct (named after him Acqua Paola), bringing water to the rioni located on right bank of the Tiber (Trastevere and Borgo). He had always encouraged Guido Reni. Like many Popes of the time he was also guilty of nepotism, and his nephew Cardinal Scipione Borghese wielded enormous power on his behalf, consolidating the rise of the Borghese family.

[edit] Later life and death

Paul V died on January 28, 1621 in Rome and was succeeded by Gregory XV.

Styles of Pope Paul V
Image:Emblem of the Papacy.svg
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	none

[edit] References

James I, De Triplici Nodo, Triplex Cuneus, (his anonymous pamphlet encouraging loyalty to the Crown, accompanied by letters from Paul V about the Catholic Church's opinion of the Oath of Allegiance, and James' responses to them).
Stephen A. Coston, King James VI & I and Papal Opposition, 1998