Pope Pius V (17 January 1504-1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghisleri, was Pope from 7 January 1566 to 1 May 1572, succeeding Pope Pius IV and preceding Pope Gregory XIII.
Biography[]
Antonio Ghisleri was born in Bosco, Duchy of Milan on 17 January 1504, and he entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen. He was ordained a priest at Genoa in 1528 and lectured at Pavia for sixteen years, advancing thirty positions in support of the Pope and against the Protestant Reformation. In 1556, he was made Bishop of Sutri by Pope Paul IV and became inquisitor of the faith in Milan and Lombardy. In 1557, he was made a Cardinal and Inquisitor General for all Christendom. As cardinal, Ghisleri put orthodoxy before personalities, prosecuted eight French bishops for heresy, and stood firmly against nepotism in the Catholic Church.
In 1566, he was elected Pope, succeeding Pope Pius IV; he took on his predecessor's name. In 1570, he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England for heresy and persecution of English Catholics during her reign. He also arranged the formation of a Holy League to combat the advancement of the Ottoman Empire in Eastern Europe, and the Holy League defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. He died in Rome, Papal States in 1572 at the age of 68.