Editing Pope Gregory XIII (section)

===Foreign policy===
[[Image:Japanese_Tensho_Embassy_with_Pope_Gregory_XIII_1585.png|thumb|The Japanese ambassadors of Tennsho, Keisho, headed by [[Itō Mancio]] meet with Pope Gregory XIII in 1585.]]

Though he feared the invasion of Europe by the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]], Gregory XIII's attentions were more consistently directed to the dangers of the [[Protestants]]. He encouraged the plans of Philip II to dethrone [[Elizabeth I of England]] (reigned from 1558 to 1603), resulting in English Protestants suspecting [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] as potential traitors and subversives. {{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

In 1578, to further the plans of exiled English and Irish Catholics such as [[Nicholas Sanders]], [[William Allen (cardinal)|William Allen]], and [[James Fitzmaurice FitzGerald]], Gregory outfitted adventurer [[Thomas Stukeley]] with a ship and an army of 800 men to land in [[Ireland]] to aid the Catholics against the Protestant plantations.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Life and Times of Thomas Stukeley (c.1525–78)|last=Tazón|first=Juan E.|publisher=Ashgate|year=2003|isbn=9780754632856|location=Aldershot, UK |pages=222–235}}</ref> To his dismay, Stukeley joined his forces with those of King [[Sebastian of Portugal]] against Sultan [[Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi|Abdul Malik of Morocco]] instead.

Another papal expedition sailed to Ireland in 1579 with a mere 50 soldiers under the command of Fitzmaurice, accompanied by Sanders as [[papal legate]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} They took part in the [[Second Desmond Rebellion]]. All of the soldiers and sailors on board, as well as the women and children who accompanied them, were beheaded or hanged on landing in Kerry in the [[Siege of Smerwick|Smerwick Massacre]].

In 1580, he was persuaded by English [[Jesuits]] to moderate or suspend the Bull ''[[Regnans in Excelsis]]'' (1570), which had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England. Catholics were advised to obey the queen outwardly in all civil matters until such time as a suitable opportunity presented itself for her overthrow.<ref>P. J. Corish, "The origins of Catholic nationalism," part 8, vol. III, pp. 15–18, in ''The History of Irish Catholicism'' (Dublin, 1967)</ref>

[[File:Gregory XIII medal.jpg|thumb|''Ugonottorum Strages'' medal]]

After the [[St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre]]s of [[Huguenot]]s in France in 1572, Pope Gregory signaled his approval and celebrated a ''[[Te Deum]]'' mass.  Three frescoes in the [[Sala Regia (Vatican)|Sala Regia]] hall of the Vatican depicting the events were commissioned and painted by [[Giorgio Vasari]].  A commemorative medal was issued with Gregory's portrait and on the obverse a chastising angel, sword in hand and the legend <small>UGONOTTORUM STRAGES</small> ("Overthrow of the Huguenots").<ref name="History-volVII">{{cite book|title=History of the Christian Church |volume=VII. ''Modern Christianity. The German Reformation'' |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc7.ii.i.xi.html |last=Schaff|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Schaff|year=1910|pages=Note 53|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|no-pp=true}}</ref> 

Gregory XIII was visited by the [[Tenshō embassy]] of Japan, becoming the first Pope to have received such an embassy. On behalf of the Japanese ruler [[Oda Nobunaga]], they gifted him with the so-called [[Azuchi Screens]], which were put on display within the Vatican.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKelway |first1=Matthew |date=2006 |title=Capitalscapes Folding Screens and Political Imagination in Late Medieval Kyoto |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |pages=296 |chapter=The Azuchi Screens and Images of Castles |isbn= 978-0824861773 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>