Pope Urban VII | |
|---|---|
| File:Urban3355.jpg | |
| Installed | September 15, 1590 |
| Term ended | September 27, 1590 |
| Predecessor | Sixtus V |
| Successor | Gregory XIV |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Giovanni Battista Castagna August 4, 1521 |
| Died | September 27, 1590 (aged 69) |
| Other popes named Urban | |
| Papal styles of Pope Urban VII | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | none |
Pope Urban VII (August 4, 1521 – September 27, 1590), born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was Pope for thirteen days in September 1590. He was of Genoese origin, although born in Rome. He was chosen successor of Pope Sixtus V (1585–90) on September 15, 1590, but died of malaria (September 27, 1590) before consecration, making his either the shortest or second shortest papal reign in history, depending on whether Pope-elect Stephen is considered a real pope (he has not been so considered by the Catholic Church since 1961).
He had previously served as governor of Bologna and as archbishop of Rossano, and was for many years nuncio to Spain; his election to the papacy was largely backed by the Spanish faction.
Urban VII's short passage in office gave rise to the world's first known public smoking ban, as he threatened to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose".[1]
