Pope who speedily took the place of Marcellus.

The pontificate of Paul IV (Gian Pietro Caraffa, May, 1555-August, 1559)
forms one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of the
Counter-reformation, which in him seemed under both its aspects to have
secured the mastery of the Church. God's will alone, he was convinced,
had placed him where he stood; for he was unconscious of having achieved
anything through the favor of man. He was now seventy-nine years of age,
but he had never been more eager to devote himself to his chosen
purpose--the establishment in the eyes of all peoples of a pure and
spiritually active church, free from all impediments of corruptions and
abuses, and purged of all poison of heresy and schism.

Fully aware--though he had belonged to it himself--of the virtual
failure of Paul III's commission of reform, Paul IV, in his first bull,
solemnly promised an effectual reform of the Church and the Roman Curia,
and lost no time in instituting a congregation for the purpose. The
commission, which consisted of three divisions, each of them composed
jointly of cardinals, bishops, and doctors, wisely addressed itself in
the first instance to the question of ecclesiastical appointments. The
new Pope likewise issued orders for the specific reform of monastic
establishments, and his energy seemed to stand in striking contrast with
the hesitations and delays of the recently suspended council.

But once more the seductions of the temporal power overcame its holder.
Caraffa's residence in Spain, and enthusiasm for the religious ideals
and methods prevalent there, had not eradicated the bitterly
anti-Spanish feeling inborn in him as a Neapolitan, and Charles V,
returning hatred for hatred, had done his utmost to offend the dignity
and damage the interests of the Cardinal. To these personal and
national sentiments had been added the conviction that the Emperor's
dealings with the German Protestants had encouraged them to deal a
deadly blow to the unity and strength of the Church; and thus Paul IV
allowed himself to be borne away by passion. His fiery temperament,
fretted rather than soothed by old age, left him and those around him no
peace; he maltreated the imperialist cardinals and the dependents of the
Emperor within his reach, and sought to instigate the French government
to take up arms once more.

Of a sudden, as if in another gust of passion, he made a clean sweep of
the obstacles which his own perv