Pope Paul III

Pope Paul III
Bishop of Rome
Portrait of Pope Paul III, 1543
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	13 October 1534
Papacy ended	10 November 1549
Predecessor	Clement VII
Successor	Julius III
Previous post(s)	Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano (1493–1503) Bishop of Corneto and Montefiascone (1499–1509) Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Eustachio (1503–1519) Archpriest of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran (1508–1534) Bishop of Parma (1509–1534) Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals (1516–1519) Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati (1519–1523) Cardinal-Bishop of Palestrina (1523) Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina (1523–1524) Cardinal-Bishop of Porto (1524) Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia (1524–1534) Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals (1524)
Orders
Ordination	26 June 1519
Consecration	2 July 1519 by Leo X
Created cardinal	20 September 1493 by Alexander VI
Personal details
Born	Alessandro Farnese 29 February 1468 Canino, Lazio, Papal States
Died	10 November 1549(1549-11-10) (aged 81) Rome, Papal States
Buried	St. Peter's Basilica
Partner	Silvia Ruffini (mistress)
Children	Pier Luigi II Farnese Paolo Farnese Ranuccio Farnese Costanza Farnese Lucrezia Farnese
Signature
Coat of arms
Other popes named Paul

Papal styles of Pope Paul III
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	None

Part of a series on
Catholic Counter-Reformation
Faith, or The Church Triumphant (1665), by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Catholic Reformation and Revival
Councils and documents Council of Trent Exsurge Domine Decet Romanum Pontificem Confutatio Augustana Regimini militantis Ecclesiae Roman Catechism Nova ordinantia eclessiastica Defensio Tridentinæ fidei Regnans in Excelsis Ascendente Domino Immensa aeterni Dei Unigenitus
Politics Diet of Worms Catholic League Augsburg Interim European Wars of Religion Dalecarlian Rebellions German Peasants' War Wars of Kappel Tyrone's Rebellion Olav Engelbrektsson's rebellion Pilgrimage of Grace Bigod's rebellion Dacke War Schmalkaldic War Prayer Book Rebellion French Wars of Religion Strasbourg Bishops' War Thirty Years' War Bohemian Revolt Rohan Wars Jacobite rising of 1689
Spirituality Confraternities Devotionalism French school of spirituality Gregorian chant Ignatian spirituality Interior life Mariology Popular piety Rosary Sacred Heart Spanish mysticism Tridentine Mass Transubstantiation Works of mercy
Art Schools Mannerism Polyphony Baroque Flemish Baroque Spanish Golden Century Artists Federico Barocci Gian Lorenzo Bernini Michelangelo Caravaggio Annibale Carracci Ludovico Carracci Anthony van Dyck Domenico Fontana Artemisia Gentileschi Luca Giordano El Greco Jacobus de Kerle Giovanni Lanfranco Orlando di Lasso Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Mattia Preti Andrea Pozzo Scipione Pulzone Guido Reni Jusepe de Ribera Peter Paul Rubens Vincenzo Ruffo Tintoretto Titian Georges de la Tour Juan de Valdés Leal Francisco de Zurbarán
People People Teresa of Ávila Thomas More Clergy Robert Bellarmine Charles Borromeo Joseph Calasanz Peter Canisius Erasmus Ignatius of Loyola John Eck John Fisher John of the Cross Lawrence of Brindisi Péter Pázmány Philip Neri Matteo Ricci Cardinal Richelieu Francis de Sales Francisco Suárez Francis Xavier Monarchs Charles V Ferdinand II Leopold I Louis XIV Mary I Maximilian I Catherine de' Medici Philip II Sigismund I Sigismund III William V Popes Leo X Adrian VI Clement VII Pius III Paul III Julius III Paul IV Pius IV Pius V Gregory XIII Sixtus V
Inquisition Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Excommunicable offences Index Librorum Prohibitorum Portuguese Inquisition Roman Inquisition Spanish Inquisition Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition
Philosophy and education Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum Pontifical Gregorian University Second scholasticism School of Salamanca Molinism
Religious orders Augustinian Recollects Barnabites Capuchins Discalced Augustinians Discalced Carmelites Jesuits Oratorians Piarists Theatines Ursulines
Related topics Catholic literary revival History of Germany Holy Roman Empire Nationalism in the Middle Ages Nation-building Proto-Protestantism Reformation Renaissance
Catholicism portal
v t e

Pope Paul III (Latin: Paulus III; Italian: Paolo III; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549.

He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church as the Protestant Reformation progressed. His pontificate initiated the Catholic Reformation with the Council of Trent in 1545, and witnessed wars of religion in which Emperor Charles V launched military campaigns against the Protestants in Germany. He recognized new Catholic religious orders and societies such as the Jesuits, the Barnabites, and the Congregation of the Oratory. His efforts were distracted by nepotism to advance the power and fortunes of his family, including his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese.

Paul III was a significant patron of artists, including Michelangelo, and Nicolaus Copernicus dedicated his heliocentric treatise to him.