Gian Pietro Carafa

Gian Pietro Carafa (1476–1559), of the Carafa family, was a rigid reforming churchman who became Pope Paul IV. As papal envoy in Spain he developed a hostility to Spanish rule that shaped his later policy.

Bishop of Chieti, he resigned in 1524 and founded the Theatine order with Saint Cajetan. A cardinal from 1536, he persuaded Pope Paul III in 1542 to establish the Roman Inquisition on the Spanish model.

Elected pope in 1555 over Charles V's opposition, he issued the first Index of Prohibited Books and, by the bull Cum nimis absurdum, ghettoized Rome's Jews. He died in 1559, hated by the Roman populace.