Friday, September 27, 2019

Why Bother?


Why Bother?

On this day in the year 1590, Pope Urban VII passed away. His papacy began on September 15, 1590; he had been Pope for less than 12 days. Prior to his elevation to the Holy See he had a distinguished career as a diplomat throughout Europe, and he was eminenetly qualified for the position.  He died of malaria.
He did, however,cduring his short papacy, institute a smoking ban, threatening to excommunicate anyone who “took tobacco in the porch way 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.” The prohibition was ultimately repealed a century later by Pope Benedict VIII.

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