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Born as Maffeo Barberini, Pope Urban VII was born on April 5th, 1568.

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Maffeo Barberini was born into an important Florentine family. He was educated by the Jesuits.

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Pope Urban VIII graduated from Pisa after taking Law, and returned to Rome to become an abbreviator Apostolic and referendary of the Segnatura di Giustizia.

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Clement VIII made him Governor of Fano, then prothonotary (chief clerk) Apostolic.

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He served as papal legate in France.

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Appointed archbishop of Nazareth and nuncio to Paris.

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In recognition of his services in France, Paul V created him cardinal-priest, 11 September, 1606, with the titular Church of S. Pietro in Montorio.

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He was transferred to the See of Spoleto, where he convened a synod, completed the seminary, and built two other diocesan seminaries, at Spello and Visso.

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Exchanged with the titular church of S. Onofrio.

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Upon the death of Pope Gregory XV, Maffeo Barberini was elected Pope, taking the name of Urban VIII.

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FACT- Cardinal Maffeo Barberini received fifty votes.

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Urban VIII saw to it that the Barberini family benefited from his papacy. His brother and two nephews were made cardinals and given high church offices. Other family members were helped by the Pope in the acquisition of property and titles .

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During his long papacy, Urban VIII promoted missionary work. He formed dioceses and vicariates in various missionary territories and founded a college for the training of missionaries. He also repealed the monopoly on missionary work in China and Japan given to the Jesuits in 1585, opening these countries to missionaries of all orders.

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POPE URBAN VIII BEATIFIED:
James of the Marches, a Minorite, 12 August, 1624;
Francis Borgia, a Jesuit, 23 November, 1624;
Andrew Avellino, 10 June, 1625;
Felix of Cantalice, a Minorite, 1 October, 1625;
Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi, 8 May, 1626;
Cajetan, the founder of the Theatines, 8 October, 1629;
John of God, 21 September, 1630; and
Josaphat Kuncevyc, 16 May, 1643.

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The patronage relationship was broken. The Pope never forgave Galileo for putting the argument of God's omnipotence (the argument he himself had put to Galileo in 1623) in the mouth of Simplicio, the staunch Aristotelian whose arguments had been systematically destroyed.

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Urban VIII prohibited slavery among the Indians of Brazil, Paraguay, and the West Indies.

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He reduced the number of holy days of obligation to thirty-four, besides Sundays.

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Pope Urban VIII, died on July 29th in rome.

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Urban VIII was the leader of the church when it threatened to burn Galileo at the stake.
He was put on trial and forced to recant his findings as "abjured, cursed, and detested" or be burned at the stake.
Galileo chose to stay alive, but the church didn't formally apologize for their error until 1992, roughly 350 years later.