Catholic Pope (1585-1590) born in Grottammare, Italy, whose reforms carried out decisively contributed to reestablishing the political and spiritual prestige of the Catholic Church in the 16th century. He entered the Franciscan order (1533), was ordained in Siena (1547) and received a doctorate in theology (1548). He gained a reputation for severity when he served as Inquisitor General in Venice and Vicar General of his order. Made a cardinal (1570), he retired from his activities (1572-1585) and edited the works of Bishop Ambrose of Milan.
Elected successor to Gregory XIII (1585), he assumed a pontificate in a chaotic situation, with states plagued by banditry and financially exhausted by the Counter-Reformation. It took extreme measures against banditry, sold offices and created new loans and taxes and invested large sums of architectural and urban works, through which he transformed medieval Rome into a city baroque.
He finished the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral, rebuilt the Lateran and Vatican palaces. By the bull Postquam verus (1586), he defined the Sacred College and set the number of its members at seventy. He divided the papal administration into 15 congregations (1588) and complemented the Curia reform with a rigorous campaign against clergy corruption. The reform allowed the implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent and made the pope to be considered one of the founders of the Counter-Reformation.
He supported Catholic countries, without allowing, however, their interference in ecclesiastical matters. In his efforts against the spread of Protestantism, he promised to help Philip II of Spain if he invaded England and excommunicated the Protestant Henry of Navarre, who ascended to the French throne as Henry IV after converting to the Catholicism.
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order F - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/felice-peretti.htm