Pope Urban VII
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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 the second* shortest papal reign in history, after Stephen II.
* Note that Stephen II is no longer considered a Pope in the Annuario Pontificio after its 1961 edition, though he is still considered legitimate in the Catholic Encyclopedia. So, considering the Annuario Pontificio's claim, Pope Urban VII would have had the shortest reign in history, but according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, his would be the second shortest reign in history.
Urban VII's short passage in office gave way 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".
References
- The Death of the Popes by Wendy J. Reardon, 2004.
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Popes of the Roman Catholic Church
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