Editing Pope Urban VIII (section)

==Papacy==
[[File:Coin of Urban VIII, dated 1629.jpg|thumb|left|Gold ''quadrupla'' coin of Pope Urban VIII, struck at the [[Avignon]] mint, dated 1629]]
{{Infobox popestyles|
|image      = C o a Urbanus VIII.svg
|dipstyle   = His Holiness
|offstyle   = Your Holiness
|relstyle   = Holy Father
|deathstyle = None
}}

===Papal election===
{{main|1623 papal conclave}}
Barberini was considered someone who could be elected as pope, though there were those such as Cardinal [[Ottavio Bandini]] who worked to prevent it. Throughout 29–30 July, the cardinals began an intense series of negotiations to test the numbers as to who could emerge from the conclave as pope, with Cardinal [[Ludovico Ludovisi]] dismissing Barberini's chances as long as Barberini remained a close ally of Cardinal [[Scipione Borghese]], whose faction Barberini supported. Ludovisi had discussions with Cardinals [[Odoardo Farnese (cardinal)|Odoardo Farnese]], [[Carlo de' Medici (cardinal)|Carlo de' Medici]] and [[Ippolito Aldobrandini (cardinal)|Ippolito Aldobrandini]] on 30 July about seeing to Barberini's election. The three supported his candidacy and went about securing the support of others, which led to Barberini's election just over a week later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1623.html|title=Sede Vacante 1623|date=27 September 2015|access-date=22 January 2019}}</ref> On 6 August 1623, at the papal conclave following the death of [[Pope Gregory XV]], Barberini was chosen as Gregory XV's successor and took the name Urban VIII. His coronation had to be postponed until 29 September 1623 since the new pontiff was ill at the time of his election.

Upon Pope Urban VIII's election, Zeno, the Venetian envoy, wrote the following description of him:<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jr8AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA159 |page=159 |title=The Triple Crown: An Account of the Papal Conclaves from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day |last1=Pirie |first1=Valérie |year=1935 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The new Pontiff is 56 years old. His Holiness is tall, dark, with regular features and black hair turning grey. He is exceptionally elegant and refined in all details of his dress; has a graceful and aristocratic bearing and exquisite taste. He is an excellent speaker and debater, writes verses and patronises poets and men of letters.}}

===Activities===
[[File:Dankaerts-Historis-9264.tif|thumb|left|Engraving of Pope Urban VIII]]
Urban VIII's papacy covered 21 years of the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648), and was an eventful one, even by the standards of the day.

Despite an early friendship and encouragement for his teachings, Urban VIII was responsible for summoning the scientist and astronomer [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] to Rome in 1633 to recant his work. Urban VIII was opposed to [[Copernican heliocentrism]] and he ordered [[Galileo affair|Galileo's second trial]] after the publication of ''[[Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems]]'', in which Urban's point of view is argued by the character "Simplicio".

Urban VIII practiced [[nepotism]] on a grand scale; various members of his family were enormously enriched by him, so that it seemed to contemporaries as if he were establishing a [[Barberini]] dynasty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.libraryindex.com/encyclopedia/pages/cpxlcmvbhn/urban-viii-barberini-rome.html |title=Urban Viii - Barberini and Rome |access-date=6 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721003916/http://www.libraryindex.com/encyclopedia/pages/cpxlcmvbhn/urban-viii-barberini-rome.html |archive-date=21 July 2013 }}</ref> He elevated his brother [[Antonio Marcello Barberini]] (Antonio the Elder) and then his nephews [[Francesco Barberini (seniore)|Francesco Barberini]] and [[Antonio Barberini]] (Antonio the Younger) to [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]]. He also bestowed upon their brother, [[Taddeo Barberini]], the titles ''Prince of [[Palestrina]]'', [[Gonfalonier of the Church]], [[Prefect|Prefect of Rome]] and ''Commander of [[Castel Sant'Angelo|Sant'Angelo]]''. Historian [[Leopold von Ranke]] estimated that during his reign, Urban VIII's immediate family amassed 105 million [[scudi]] in personal wealth.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyofpopesth0301rank ''History of the popes; their church and state (Volume III)''] by Leopold von Ranke ([[Wellesley College]] Library, reprint; 2009)</ref>

Urban VIII was a skilled writer of Latin verse, and a collection of [[Bible|scriptural]] paraphrases as well as original hymns of his composition have been frequently reprinted.

The 1638 papal bull ''Commissum Nobis'' protected the existence of [[Jesuit]] [[Mission (Christian)|missions]] in [[South America]] by forbidding the enslavement of natives who were at the [[Jesuit Reductions]].{{sfn|Mooney|1910}}<ref>Joel S. Panzer, ''The Popes and Slavery'', Staten Island, New York, Society of St. Paul, 1996, pp.89-91.</ref> At the same time, Urban VIII repealed the Jesuit monopoly on missionary work in [[China]] and [[Japan]], opening these countries to missionaries of other orders and missionary societies.<ref name= "van Helden" >{{cite web| title=The Galileo Project.| publisher=Rice University| first=Al| last=van Helden| year=1995| url=http://galileo.rice.edu/chr/urban_viii.html| access-date=7 September 2007}}</ref>

In response to complaints in the [[Diocese of Seville]], Urban VIII issued the letter ''Cum Ecclesiae'', dated 30 January 1642, that made use of [[tobacco]] in holy places punishable by excommunication.{{sfn|Buescher|2017}} While often described as a papal bull, the document was not filed as such and was more than likely an [[encyclical]]; [[Pope Benedict XIII]] eventually abrogated the tobacco ban, preferring other methods to ensuring the cleanliness of church facilities.{{sfn|The Popes and Tobacco|1910|pp=612–613}}

====Canonizations and beatifications====
Urban VIII canonized five saints during his pontificate: [[Stephen Harding]] (1623), [[Elizabeth of Portugal]] and [[Conrad of Piacenza]] (1625), [[Peter Nolasco]] (1628), and [[Andrew Corsini|Andrea Corsini]] (1629). The pope also beatified 68 individuals, including the [[26 Martyrs of Japan|Martyrs of Nagasaki]] (1627). He also issued the [[papal bull]]s of canonization for [[Ignatius of Loyola]] (founder of the [[Society of Jesus]], "Jesuits") and [[Francis Xavier]] (also a Jesuit), who had been canonized by his predecessor, Pope Gregory XV.

====Canonical coronation====
[[File:La Madonna della Febbre San Pietro Vaticano.jpg|thumb|upright|The icon of the La Madonna della Febbre which was crowned in 1631 making it as the first Marian image to receive a [[Canonical coronation|pontifical coronation]].]]
Pope Urban VIII is also known as the first pope who granted a [[canonical coronation]] towards a Marian icon. The first icon that was crowned was the La Madonna della Febbre which is enshrined at the sacristy of [[St. Peter's Basilica]]. The coronation took place on 1631 making it as the first coronation in the world.

====Consistories====
{{main|Cardinals created by Urban VIII}}
[[File:Pietro da Cortona - Portrait of Urban VIII (ca. 1624-1627) - Google Art Project - edited.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Urban VIII by [[Pietro da Cortona]], {{circa|1624–7}}]]
The pope created 74 cardinals in eight consistories throughout his pontificate, and this included his nephews [[Francesco Barberini (1597–1679)|Francesco]] and [[Antonio Barberini|Antonio]], cousin [[Lorenzo Magalotti (cardinal)|Lorenzo Magalotti]], and the pope's own brother [[Antonio Marcello Barberini|Antonio Marcello]]. He also created Giovanni Battista Pamphili as a cardinal, with Pamphili becoming his immediate successor, [[Pope Innocent X]]. The pope also created eight of those cardinals whom he had reserved ''[[in pectore]]''.

====Policy on private revelation====
In the papal bull ''[[Sanctissimus Dominus Noster]]'' of 13 March 1625, Urban instructed Catholics not to venerate the deceased or represent them in the manner of saints without Church sanction. It required a bishop's approval for the publication of private revelations. Since the nineteenth century, it has become common for books of popular devotion to carry a disclaimer. One read in part: "In obedience to the decrees of Urban the Eighth, I declare that I have no intention of attributing any other than a purely human authority to the miracles, revelations, favours, and particular cases recorded in this book..."<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0fqKBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 | access-date = 30 November 2017 | title= Heaven Can Wait: Purgatory in Catholic Devotional and Popular Culture |first=Diana | last = Walsh Pasulka | publisher = Oxford University Press | date= 2015| page=127| isbn = 9780195382020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=283| title = Religious Transformations in the Early Modern Americas | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQ6qBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA283 | editor-first1=Stephanie |editor-last1=Kirk |editor-first2= Sarah |editor-last2= Rivett | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | date= 2014 |first=David A. |last= Boruchoff | chapter = Martín de Murúa, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, and the Contested Uses of Saintly Models in Writing Colonial American History| isbn = 9780812290288 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first= Mary Fabyan | last= Windeatt | publisher = TAN Books | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=O7XHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT199 | title = Saint Benedict: The Story of the Father of the Western Monks | date= 2013| isbn= 9781618904614 }}</ref>

===Politics===
Urban VIII's military involvement was aimed less at the restoration of [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] in [[Europe]] than at adjusting the balance of power to favour his own independence in [[Italy]]. In 1626, the [[Duchy of Urbino]] was incorporated into the Papal dominions,{{sfn|Collins|2009|p=382}} and, in 1627, when the direct male line of the [[House of Gonzaga|Gonzaga]]s in [[Duchy of Mantua|Mantua]] became extinct, he controversially favoured the succession of the Duke [[Charles I, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat|Charles of Nevers]] against the claims of the [[Habsburgs]]. He also launched the [[Wars of Castro]] in 1641 against [[Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma|Odoardo Farnese]], [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza|Duke of Parma and Piacenza]], whom he [[Excommunication|excommunicated]]. [[Castro, Lazio|Castro]] was destroyed and its [[Duchy of Castro|duchy]] incorporated into the Papal States.

Urban VIII was the last pope to extend the Papal territory. He fortified [[Castelfranco Emilia]] on the Mantuan frontier and commissioned [[Vincenzo Maculani]] to fortify the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] in Rome. Urban VIII also established an [[arsenal]] in the Vatican, an arms factory at [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]] and fortified the harbour of [[Civitavecchia]].

For the purposes of making cannon and the [[St. Peter's Baldachin|baldacchino]] in St Peter's, massive bronze girders were pillaged from the portico of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] leading to the well known lampoon: ''quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini,'' "what the barbarians did not do, the Barberini did."<ref name= "van Helden" />

===Patron of the arts===
Urban VIII expended vast sums bringing polymaths like [[Athanasius Kircher]] to Rome and funding various substantial works by the sculptor and architect [[Bernini]], from whom he had already commissioned ''[[Boy with a Dragon]]'' around 1617 and who was particularly favored during Urban VIII's reign. As well as [[Busts of Pope Urban VIII|several portrait busts of Urban]], Urban commissioned Bernini to work on the family palace in Rome, the [[Palazzo Barberini]], the college of the [[Propaganda Fide]], the [[Fontana del Tritone]] in the [[Piazza Barberini]], the [[St. Peter's Baldachin|baldacchino]] and ''[[cathedra]]'' in [[St Peter's Basilica]] and other prominent structures in the city. Numerous members of Barberini's family also had their likeness caught in stone by Bernini, such as his brothers [[Statue of Carlo Barberini|Carlo]] and [[Bust of Antonio Barberini (Bernini)|Antonio]]. Urban also had rebuilt the Church of [[Santa Bibiana]] and the Church of [[San Sebastiano al Palatino]] on the [[Palatine Hill]].

The Barberini patronised painters such as [[Nicolas Poussin]] and [[Claude Lorrain]]. One of the most eulogistic of these artistic works in its celebration of his reign, is the huge ''[[Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power (Cortona)|Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power]]'' painted by [[Pietro da Cortona]] on the ceiling of the large salon of the Palazzo Barberini.
[[File:Portland Vase BM Gem4036 n4 resized white-balanced white bg.png|thumb|The Barberini Vase, now renamed the Portland Vase]]
Another such acquisition, in a vast collection, was the purchase of the 'Barberini vase'. This was allegedly found at the mausoleum of the Roman Emperor [[Severus Alexander]]  and his family at Monte Del Grano. The discovery of the vase is described by [[Pietro Santi Bartoli]] and referenced on page 28 of a book on The Portland Vase.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Portland Vase : the extraordinary odyssey of a mysterious Roman treasure|last=Brooks, Robin (Robin Jeremy)|date=2004|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-051099-4|edition=1st|location=New York, NY|oclc=54960357|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/portlandvaseextr0000broo_w1m0}}</ref> Pietro Bartoli indicates that the vase contained the ashes of the Roman Emperor. However, this together with the interpretations of the scenes depicted on it are the source of countless theories and disputed 'facts'. The vase remained in the Barberini family collection for some 150 years before passing through the hands of Sir [[William Hamilton (diplomat)|William Hamilton]] Ambassador to the Royal Court in Naples. It was later sold to the [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of Portland]], and has subsequently been known as the [[Portland Vase]]. Following catastrophic damage, this glass vase (1-25BC) has been reconstructed three times and resides in the [[British Museum]]. The Portland vase itself was borrowed and near copied by [[Josiah Wedgwood]] who appears to have added modesty drapery. The vase formed the basis of [[Jasperware]].

===Later life===
[[File:Urban VIII Bernini Musei Capitolini.jpg|thumb|Statue of Pope Urban VIII sculpted by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Bernini]] and his students between 1635 and 1640, and on display at the [[Palazzo dei Conservatori]] in [[Rome]]]]
A consequence of these military and artistic endeavours was a massive increase in papal debt. Urban VIII inherited a debt of 16 million [[Italian scudo|scudi]], and by 1635 had increased it to 28 million.

According to contemporary [[John Bargrave]], in 1636 members of the [[Habsburg Spain|Spanish]] faction of the [[College of Cardinals]] were so horrified by the conduct of Pope Urban VIII that they conspired to have him arrested and imprisoned (or killed) so that they could replace him with a new pope; namely [[Laudivio Zacchia]].<ref name=bargrave>''Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals'' by [[John Bargrave]], edited by [[James Craigie Robertson]] (reprint; 2009)</ref> When Urban VIII travelled to [[Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo|Castel Gandolfo]] to rest, the members of the Spanish faction met in secret and discussed ways to advance their plan. But they were discovered and the pope raced back to Rome where he immediately held a [[papal consistory|consistory]] and demanded to know who the new pope was. To put an end to the conspiracy, the pope decreed that all Cardinal-Bishops should leave Rome and return to their own churches.<ref name=bargrave/>

With the Spanish plan having failed, by 1640 the debt had reached 35 million scudi, consuming more than 80% of annual papal income in interest repayments.<ref>{{cite book| title=Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes| first=Eamon| last=Duffy| year=1997| publisher=Yale University Press| isbn=978-0-300-09165-6| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/saintssinnershis00duff_0}}</ref>

===Death and legacy===
[[File:Giovanni Gonnelli, Busto di Urbano VIII.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust by [[Giovanni Gonnelli]]]]
[[File:Urbanus – Constitutio contra astrologos iudiciarios, 1631 – BEIC 13346228.jpg|thumb|''Constitutio contra astrologos iudiciarios'', 1631]]

Urban VIII's death on 29 July 1644 is said to have been hastened by chagrin at the result of the [[Wars of Castro]]. Because of the costs incurred by the city of Rome to finance this war, Urban VIII became immensely unpopular with his subjects.

On his death, the bust of Urban VIII that lay beside the [[Palace of the Conservators]] on the [[Capitoline Hill]] was rapidly destroyed by an enraged crowd, and only a quick-thinking priest saved the sculpture of the late pope belonging to the [[Jesuits]] from a similar fate.<ref>Ernesta Chinazzi, Sede Vacante per la morte del Papa Urbano VIII Barberini e conclave di Innocenzo X Pamfili, Rome, 1904, 13.</ref>

Following his death, international and domestic machinations resulted in the papal conclave not electing Cardinal [[Giulio Cesare Sacchetti]], who was closely associated with some members of the Barberini family. Instead, it elected Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphili, who took the name of [[Pope Innocent X|Innocent X]], as his successor at the [[papal conclave, 1644|papal conclave of 1644]].