Urban VII: The Shortest Papacy in History.

In this episode of Habemus Papam, Fr. Conrad discusses Urban VII, who succeeded Pope Sixtus V, a poor friar from a tenant farming family. You can listen to the podcast about him here.

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Urban VII, born Giovanni Battista Castagna on August 4, 1521 in Rome to a noble family and is the son of Cosimo Castagna of Genoa and Costanza Ricci Giacobazzi of Rome. He received an education and received a doctorate in civil law at the University of Bologna.

He served as auditor under his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Veralla and he served as a constitutional lawyer and entered the Roman Curia during the Papacy of Pope Julius III.

After the death of Pope Sixtus V, a conclave formed to elect the successor. The Conclave elected Cardinal Castagna on September 15, 1590 and he chose Urban VII as his pontifical name. As Pope, he threatened anyone who took tobacco inside a church and he expressed charity to the poor.

He died in Rome on September 27, 1590 just before midnight of malaria. He only reigned for 13 days.