As Pope, he energetically rooted out corruption and lawlessness across Rome, and launched a far-sighted rebuilding programme that continues to provoke controversy, as it involved the destruction of antiquities.

[4] At the age of 9 years, Felice returned to Montalto to join his uncle in the Franciscan Convent of San Francesco delle Fratte.

He was sent to Venice as inquisitor general of the Venetian Holy Inquisition,[5] but was so severe and conducted matters in such a high-handed manner that he became embroiled in quarrels.

After a brief term as procurator of his order, he was attached in 1565 to the papal legation to Spain headed by Cardinal Ugo Boncampagni (later Pope Gregory XIII) which was sent to investigate a charge of heresy levelled against Bartolomé Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo.

Clearly, however, Romans displaced by it were furious, and resentment was still felt centuries later until the decision was taken to build Roma Termini railway station, inaugurated by Pope Pius IX in 1863, on the site of the Villa, which became doomed to destruction.

By the sale of offices, the establishment of a new "Monti" and by levying new taxes, he accumulated a vast surplus, which he stored up against certain specified emergencies, such as a crusade or the defence of the Holy See.

Sixtus prided himself upon his hoard, but the method by which it had been amassed was financially unsound: some of the taxes proved ruinous, and the withdrawal of so much money from circulation could not fail to cause distress.

[5] Immense sums were spent upon public works,[5] in carrying through the comprehensive planning that had come to fruition during his retirement, bringing water to the waterless hills via his new aqueduct, the Acqua Felice which fed twenty-seven new fountains; laying out new arteries in Rome, which connected the great basilicas, even setting his engineer-architect Domenico Fontana to replan the Colosseum as a silk-spinning factory housing its workers.

Inspired by the ideal of the Renaissance city, Pope Sixtus V's ambitious urban reform programme transformed the old environment to emulate the "long straight streets, wide regular spaces, uniformity and repetitiveness of structures, lavish use of commemorative and ornamental elements, and maximum visibility from both linear and circular perspective.

"[9] The Pope set no limit to his plans, and achieved much in his short pontificate, always carried through at top speed: the completion of the dome of St. Peter's; the loggia of Sixtus in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano; the chapel of the Praesepe in Santa Maria Maggiore; additions or repairs to the Quirinal, Lateran and Vatican palaces; the erection of four obelisks, including that in Saint Peter's Square; the opening of six streets; the restoration of the aqueduct of Septimius Severus ("Acqua Felice");[5] the integration of the Leonine City in Rome as XIV rione (Borgo).

[15][16] The bull stipulated "that it was to be considered as the authentic edition recommended by the Council of Trent, that it should be taken as the standard of all future reprints, and that all copies should be corrected by it.

[18] Sixtus V created 33 cardinals in eight consistories during his reign, which included his grandnephew Alessandro Peretti di Montalto and his future successor Ippolito Aldobrandini who would later become Pope Clement VIII.

In his larger political relations, Sixtus entertained fantastic ambitions, such as the annihilation of the Turks, the conquest of Egypt, the transport of the Holy Sepulchre to Italy, and the accession of his nephew to the throne of France.

The situation in which he found himself was difficult: he could not countenance the designs of those he considered as heretical princes, and yet he mistrusted King Philip II of Spain and viewed with apprehension any extension of his power.

The extant document comprised all that could be said against Elizabeth I, and the indictment is therefore fuller and more forcible than any other put forward by the religious exiles, who were generally reticent in their complaints.

The victories of Henry and the prospect of his conversion to Catholicism raised Sixtus V's hopes, and to a corresponding degree determined Philip II to tighten his grip upon his wavering ally.

[citation needed] Some theologians argued that only after proof of the "quickening" (when the mother can feel the fetus's movement in her womb, usually about 20 weeks into gestation) that there was incontrovertible evidence that ensoulment had already occurred.

In 1588 the pope issued a papal bull, Effraenatam or Effrenatam ("Without Restraint"), which declared that the canonical penalty of excommunication would be levied for any form of contraception and for abortions at any stage in fetal development.