Editing Pope Julius III

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1550 to 1555}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}{{Use British English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Julius III
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| image = Girolamo Sicciolante - Paus Julius IIIFXD.jpg
| caption = Portrait by the circle of [[Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta|Girolamo Siciolante]], {{circa|1550}} <small>(oil on canvas, 106 x 86 cm; [[Rijksmuseum]])</small>
| birth_name = Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 22 February 1550 
| term_end = 23 March 1555
| predecessor = [[Paul III]]
| successor = [[Marcellus II]]
| ordination = 
| ordinated_by = 
| consecration = 12 November 1514
| consecrated_by = [[Antonio Maria Ciocchi del Monte]]
| cardinal = 22 December 1536
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]
| birth_date = 10 September 1487
| birth_place = [[Monte San Savino]], [[Republic of Siena]]
| death_date = 23 March 1555 (aged 67)
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manfredonia-Vieste-S. Giovanni Rotondo|Archbishop of Manfredonia]] (1512–1544)
* [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Pavia|Bishop of Pavia]] (1521–1530)
* [[Basilica of San Vitale (Rome)|Cardinal-Priest of San Vitale]] (1537–1542)
* [[Santa Prassede|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede]] (1542–1543)
* [[Suburbicarian see of Palestrina|Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina]] (1543–1550)
}}
| other = Julius
| coat_of_arms = C o a Iulius III.svg
| signature = Signature of Pope Julius III.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
}}
{{Infobox popestyles
|image        = C o a Iulius III.svg
|dipstyle     = [[His Holiness]]
|offstyle     = Your Holiness
|relstyle     = Holy Father
|deathstyle   = None
}}

'''Pope Julius III''' ({{langx|la|Iulius PP. III}}; {{langx|it|Giulio III}}; 10 September 1487&nbsp;– 23 March 1555), born '''Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 22 February 1550 to his death, in March 1555.

After a career as a distinguished and effective diplomat, he was elected to the papacy as a compromise candidate after the death of [[Paul III]]. As pope, he made only reluctant and short-lived attempts at reform, mostly devoting himself to a life of personal pleasure. His reputation, and that of the Catholic Church, were greatly harmed by his scandal-ridden relationship with his adopted nephew, [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]].<ref name=glbtq>{{cite web |last=Crompton |first=Louis |title=Julius III |work=[[glbtq.com]] |year=2004 |access-date=16 August 2007 |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=11 October 2007}}</ref> He is the most recent pope to take the [[pontifical name]] "Julius".

==Education and early career==
Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte was born in [[Monte San Savino]], the son of a distinguished Roman jurist.<ref name=Ott/> He was educated by the humanist Raffaele Brandolini Lippo, and later studied law at [[Perugia]] and [[Siena]]. During his career, he distinguished himself as a brilliant [[canon law|canonist]] rather than as a theologian.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=886-887}}

Del Monte was the nephew of [[Antonio Maria Ciocchi del Monte]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manfredonia-Vieste-S. Giovanni Rotondo|Archbishop of Manfredonia]] (1506–1511). His uncle exchanged this see for a position as a Cardinal in 1511; Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte succeeded to Manfredonia in 1513.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eubel|first1=Conradus|last2=Gulik|first2=Guilelmus|title=Hierarchia catholica|volume= III|date=1923|publisher=Libreria Regensbergiana|page=300, n.4|location=Münster|edition=second|language=la|url=https://archive.org/details/hierarchiacathol02eubeuoft}}</ref>  In 1520, del Monte also became [[Bishop of Pavia]]. Popular for his affable manner and respected for his administrative skills, he was twice Prefect of Rome and was entrusted by the [[papal curia]] with several duties. At the [[Sack of Rome (1527)]] he was one of the hostages given by [[Pope Clement VII]] to the Emperor's forces, and barely escaped execution.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=886-887}} [[Pope Paul III]] created him Cardinal-Priest of [[San Vitale, Rome|San Vitale]] on 22 December, 1536; and raised him to the dignity of cardinal-bishop with the [[Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Palestrina|Diocese of Palestrina]] on 5 October, 1543. He was employed him in several important legations, notably as [[papal legate]] and first president of the [[Council of Trent]] (1545/47) and then at Bologna (1547/48).

==Papacy==
===Election===
{{Main|Papal conclave, 1549–1550}}
Paul III died on 10 November 1549, and in the ensuing [[Papal conclave, 1549-1550|conclave]] the forty-eight cardinals were divided into three factions: of the primary factions, the Imperial faction wished to see the Council of Trent reconvened, the French faction wished to see it dropped. The Farnese faction, loyal to the [[House of Farnese|family of the previous Pope]], supported the election of Paul III's grandson, Cardinal [[Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)|Alessandro Farnese]], and also the family's claim to the [[Duchy of Parma]], which was contested by [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]].

Neither the French nor the Germans favoured del Monte, and the Emperor had expressly excluded him from the list of acceptable candidates, but the French were able to block the other two factions, allowing del Monte to promote himself as a compromise candidate and be elected on 7 February 1550.<ref>Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI'', (HarperCollins, 2000), 283.</ref> [[Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma|Ottavio Farnese]], whose support had been crucial to the election, was immediately confirmed as Duke of Parma. But, when Farnese applied to France for aid against the emperor, Julius allied himself with the emperor, declared Farnese deprived of his fief, and sent troops under the command of his nephew Giambattista del Monte to co-operate with governor [[Ferrante Gonzaga]] of Milan in the capture of Parma.<ref name=Ott>{{CE1913 |inline=1 |last=Ott |first=Michael |wstitle=Pope Julius III |volume=8}}</ref>

===Church reforms===
At the start of his reign Julius had seriously desired to bring about a reform of the Catholic Church and to reconvene the [[Council of Trent]], but very little was actually achieved during his five years in office. In 1551, at the request of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V]], he consented to the reopening of the Council of Trent and entered into a league against the duke of Parma and [[Henry II of France]] (1547–59), causing the [[War of Parma]]. However, Julius soon came to terms with the duke and France and in 1553 suspended the meetings of the council.<ref>Richard P. McBrien, 283–284.</ref>

Henry had threatened to withdraw recognition from the Pope if the new Pope was pro-Habsburg in orientation, and when Julius III reconvened the Council of Trent, Henry blocked French bishops from attending and did not enforce the papal decrees in France. Even after Julius III suspended the council again he proceeded to bully the pope into taking his side against the Habsburgs by threatening schism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miles Pattenden |title=Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome |date=2013 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0191649615 |page=41}}</ref>[[Image:IMG 0684 - Danti, Vincenzo - Giulio III -1555- - Foto G. Dall'Orto - 5 ago 2006 - 01.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Bronze statue in [[Perugia]], 1555]]

Julius increasingly contented himself with Italian politics and retired to his luxurious palace at the [[Villa Giulia]], which he had built for himself close to the [[Porta del Popolo]]. From there he passed the time in comfort, emerging from time to time to make timid efforts to reform the Church through the reestablishment of the reform commissions. He was a friend of the [[Jesuits]], to whom he granted a fresh confirmation in 1550; and through the [[papal bull]], ''Dum sollicita'' of August 1552, he founded the [[Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum|Collegium Germanicum]], and granted an annual income.<ref>Oskar Garstein, ''Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia'', (BRILL, 1992), 105.</ref>

During his pontificate, Catholicism was restored in England under [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]] in 1553. Julius sent Cardinal [[Reginald Pole]] as legate with powers that he could use at his discretion to help the restoration succeed.<ref>Richard P. McBrien, 284.</ref> In February 1555, an envoy was dispatched from the English Parliament to Julius to inform him of the country's formal submission, but the pope died before the envoy reached Rome.

Shortly before his death, Julius dispatched Cardinal [[Giovanni Morone]] to represent the interests of the Holy See at the [[Peace of Augsburg]].<ref>Kenneth Meyer Setton, ''The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571'', Vol. IV, (The American Philosophical Society, 1984), 603.</ref> His inactivity during the last three years of his pontificate may have been caused by the frequent and severe attacks of gout.<ref name=Ott/>

===Artistic endeavors===
[[File:Villa Giulia (Roma) 2.jpg|thumb|Villa Giulia (Roma)]]
The pope's lack of interest in political or ecclesiastical affairs caused dismay among his contemporaries. When his efforts at church reform proved ineffective, Julius III focused his attentions instead on artistic and architectural commissions as well as his lavish Villa Giulia.<ref>[https://www.italianartsociety.org/2016/09/giovanni-maria-ciocchi-del-monte-better-known-as-pope-julius-iii-was-born-10-september-1487-in-monte-san-savino-outside-of-arezzo/ Culotta, Alexis. "This Day in History: September 10", Italian Art Society]</ref> He spent the bulk of his time, and a great deal of papal money, on entertainments at the [[Villa Giulia]], created for him by [[Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola|Vignola]]. [[Bartolomeo Ammannati]] designed a number of garden features under the general direction of [[Giorgio Vasari]],<ref>{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Ammanati, Bartolomeo|volume=1|page=859}}</ref> with guidance from the knowledgeable pope and [[Michelangelo]], who worked there. Today the Villa Giulia houses the [[National Etruscan Museum]], a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. 

More significant and lasting was his patronage of the great Renaissance composer [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]], whom he brought to Rome as his ''[[Kapellmeister|maestro di cappella]]''. 

===The Innocenzo scandal===
Julius' papacy was marked by scandals, the most notable of which is centered around the pope's adoptive nephew, [[Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]]. Innocenzo del Monte was a teenaged beggar found in the streets of Parma who was hired by the family as a lowly [[hall boy]] in their primary residence,<ref name="books.google.com.kh">‘’[https://archive.org/details/00book1593273669/page/215 <!-- quote=picked up by Julius in the streets of parma. --> Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes],’’ Eamon Duffy; p.215</ref> the boy's age being variously given as 14, 15, or 17 years. After the elevation of Julius to the papacy, Innocenzo Del Monte was adopted into the family by the pope's brother and was then promptly created [[cardinal-nephew]] by Julius. The pope showered his favourite with benefices, including the ''commendatario'' of the abbeys of [[Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey|Mont Saint-Michel]] in Normandy and [[Abbey of San Zeno, Verona|Saint Zeno]] in Verona, and, later, of the abbeys of Saint Saba, Miramondo,{{clarify|date=January 2024}} [[Territorial Abbacy of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata|Grottaferrata]] and Frascati, among others. As rumours began to circle about the particular relationship between the pope and his adoptive nephew, Julius refused to take advice. The cardinals [[Reginald Pole]] and [[Pope Paul IV|Giovanni Carafa]] warned the pope of the "evil suppositions to which the elevation of a fatherless young man would give rise".<ref>Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, Germany</ref>

The courtier and poet [[Girolamo Muzio]] in a letter of 1550 to [[Ferrante Gonzaga]], governor of Milan, wrote: "They write many bad things about this new pope; that he is vicious, proud, and odd in the head."<ref>Hor di questo nuovo papa universalmente se ne dice molto male; che egli è vitioso, superbo, rotto et di sua testa", ''Lettere di Girolamo Muzio Giustinopolitano conservate nell'archivio governativo di Parma'', Deputazione di Storia Patria, Parma 1864, p. 152</ref>

The poet [[Joachim du Bellay]], who lived in Rome through this period in the retinue of his relative, Cardinal [[Jean du Bellay]], expressed his scandalised opinion of Julius in two sonnets in his series Les regrets (1558), hating to see, he wrote, "a [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]] with the red hat on his head".<ref name="glbtq.com">Crompton, Louis (2004). "Julius III". glbtq.com. {{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |title=GLBTQ >> social sciences >> Julius III |access-date=16 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011091614/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/julius_III.html |archive-date=11 October 2007}}. Retrieved 16 August 2007</ref><ref>E. Joe Johnson, ''Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment'',  USA, 2003, p. 69.</ref>  

The Pope's political enemies likewise made capital of the scandal. In Italy, it was said that Julius showed the impatience of a "lover awaiting a mistress" while awaiting Innocenzo's arrival in Rome and boasted of the boy's prowess in bed, while the Venetian ambassador reported that Innocenzo Del Monte shared the pope's bed "as if he [Innocenzo] were his [Julius'] own son or grandson."<ref name="glbtq.com"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Tharoor|first1=Ishaan|title=Notorious Cardinals: A Rogue's Gallery of Powerful Prelates|url=https://world.time.com/2013/03/13/notorious-cardinals-a-rogues-gallery-of-powerful-prelates/slide/innocenzo-ciocchi-del-monte/|access-date=20 May 2016|agency=Time Magazine|issue=THE VATICAN|publisher=Time Warner|date=12 March 2013}}</ref> "The charitably-disposed told themselves the boy might after all be simply his bastard son."<ref name="books.google.com.kh"/>

For some time afterwards, Protestants, too, seized upon the rumours in the cause of polemic. As late as 1597, in his work ''The Theatre of God's judgement'', the English Puritan clergyman [[Thomas Beard (theologian)|Thomas Beard]], asserted that it was Julius' "custome ... to promote none to ecclesiastical livings, save only his buggerers".  

Despite the damage which the scandal was inflicting on the church, it was not until after Julius' death in 1555 that anything could be done to curb Innocenzo's visibility. He underwent temporary banishment following the murder of two men who had insulted him, and then again following the rape of two women. He tried to use his connections in the College of Cardinals to plead his cause, but his influence waned, and he died in obscurity. He was buried in Rome in the del Monte family chapel. One outcome of the cardinal-nephew scandal, however, was the upgrading of the position of [[Papal Secretary of State]], as the incumbent had to take over the duties Innocenzo Del Monte was unfit to perform: the Secretary of State eventually replaced the cardinal-nephew as the most important official of the Holy See.<ref>See The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church&nbsp;– Biographical Dictionary&nbsp;– Pope Julius III (1550–1555)&nbsp;– Consistory of 30 May 1550 (I) for a summary of Innocenzo Del Monte's life based on Francis Burkle-Young and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer's authoritative biography, "The life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte"</ref>

===Other activities===
[[File:Prospero fontana, ritratto di giovan maria ciocchi dal monte (poi Giulio III).JPG|thumb|right|200px|Cardinal Ciocchi del Monte depicted in a portrait before his election.]]

====Consistories====
{{main|Cardinals created by Julius III}}
Throughout his pontificate, Julius III named twenty new cardinals in four consistories, including one cardinal whom he nominated "''[[in pectore]]''" in 1551 and revealed in the following year.

====Beatifications====
While he did not canonize any saints during his papacy, Julius III did beatify the [[Basilian monk]] and hermit [[Silvester of Troina]].

==Death==
[[File:Tomb of Pope Julius III requiem.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Tomb of Julius III in the [[Vatican Grottoes|Vatican grotto]].]]
Julius III died at 7:00pm on 23 March 1555. Having suffered from [[gout]] in his later years (which he tried to cure simply by fasting), he died due to stomach ailments. As he was dying, he had difficulties in swallowing to the point that he ate little, having found it uncomfortable. It was believed after his death that the pope had died from [[Stomach cancer|stomach]] or [[esophageal cancer]].{{cn|date=December 2024}}

==In fiction==
In the novel ''[[Q (novel)|Q]]'' by [[Luther Blissett (nom de plume)|Luther Blissett]], Julius appears toward the end of the book as a moderate cardinal favouring religious tolerance, in the upheavals caused by the Reformation and the Roman Church's response during the 16th century. His election as pope and the subsequent unleashing of the Inquisition form the last chapters of the novel.

==See also==

* [[Cardinals created by Julius III]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|title=P. Messina, 'Del Monte, Innocenzo', Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol 38, Rome, 1990.}}

==Bibliography==

* Burkle-Young, Francis A., and Michael Leopoldo Doerrer. ''The Life of Cardinal Innocenzo del Monte: A Scandal in Scarlet.'' Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1997.
* Dall'Orto, Giovanni, "Julius III." Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History from Antiquity to World War II. Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, eds. London: Routledge, 2001. 234–35.
* Kelly, J. N. D. ''The Oxford Dictionary of Popes.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
{{refend}}
* {{Cite book
|last              = Smith
|first             = Marc
|chapter           = Julius III
|editor-last       = Levillain
|editor-first      = Philippe
|title             = The Papacy: Gaius-Proxies
|publisher         = Routledge
|chapter-url               = https://books.google.com/books?id=7VDcmDeLuV4C&pg=PA886
|year              = 2002
|isbn = 9780415922302
}}
* {{Cite book
|last              = O'Malley
|first             = John W
|title             = A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present
|publisher         = Government Institutes
|url               = https://books.google.com/books?id=H3Cs-1w5mucC&pg=PA202
|year              = 2009
|isbn             = 9781580512299
}}

{{commons category|Iulius III}}

==External links==
*[http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1550.htm Career of Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte]

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Paul III|Paul III]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=7 February 1550&nbsp;– 23 March 1555}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Marcellus II|Marcellus II]]}}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Iii}}
[[Category:Pope Julius III| ]]
[[Category:1487 births]]
[[Category:1555 deaths]]
[[Category:Council of Trent]]
[[Category:Participants in the Council of Trent]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Sabina]]
[[Category:Bishops of Pavia]]
[[Category:Clergy from Rome]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:16th-century popes]]
[[Category:Ciocchi family]]
[[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Julius III]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]