Reform, from another scandalous Renaissance Pope: A tentative start of the 19th Eccumenical Council, the Council of Trent. In this episode of Habemus Papam, Fr. Conrad Murphy discusses the papacy of Pope Paul III, born Alessandro Farnese on February 29, 1468. Pope Paul III succeeded Pope Clement VII. Listen to Fr. Conrad’s episode on Clement VII here.
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Birth
Born Alessandro Farnese on February 29, 1468 in Canino Latium as a member of the Caetani family, from which Popes Gelasius II and Boniface VIII came from. Alessandro received a humanist education at the University of Pisa. Pope Alexander VI appointed him Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano in 1493.
Bishop
On March 28, 1509, the Church named him Bishop of Parma even though he was not ordained a priest until June 26, 1519. They consecrated him a bishop on July 2, 1519.
Pontificate
Clement VII died in 1534 and Alessandro became Pope Paul III on October 13, 1534. Pope Paul III became the first pope to take active measures against the Protestant Reformation. In 1540, with the papal bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae, the Church officially recognized the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Pope permitted St. Ignatius of Loyola to print the Spiritual Exercises. The Council of Trent began on March 15, 1545.
During Pope Paul III’s reign, Michelangelo painted the Last Judgment, although commissioned by Pope Clement VII.
Death
Pope Paul III celebrated his papal coronation anniversary on November 3, 1549. He became so angry about his family that he suffered a heart attack. He caught a fever and died on November 10, 1549 and buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.
