Pope Gregory XVI

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Pope Gregory XVI
Bishop of Rome
Gregory XVI in 1844
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	2 February 1831
Papacy ended	1 June 1846
Predecessor	Pius VIII
Successor	Pius IX
Previous post(s)	Vicar-General of the Camaldolese Order (1814–1826) Cardinal-Priest of San Callisto (1826–1831) Prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith (1826–1831)
Orders
Ordination	1787
Consecration	6 February 1831 by Bartolomeo Pacca
Created cardinal	13 March 1826 by Leo XII
Personal details
Born	Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari (1765-09-18)18 September 1765 Belluno, Republic of Venice
Died	1 June 1846(1846-06-01) (aged 80) Rome, Papal States
Signature
Coat of arms
Other popes named Gregory

Pope Gregory XVI (Latin: Gregorius XVI; Italian: Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846.^[1] He had adopted the name Mauro upon entering the religious order of the Camaldolese.

Strongly conservative and traditionalist, he opposed democratic and modernising reforms in the Papal States and throughout Europe, seeing them as fronts for liberalism and laicism. Against these trends, Gregory XVI sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy, a position known as ultramontanism. In the encyclical Mirari vos, he pronounced it "false and absurd, or rather mad, that we must secure and guarantee to each one liberty of conscience." He encouraged missionary activity abroad and condemned the slave trade, which at the time of his pontificate was increasingly suppressed.

He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Gregory", the last to govern the Papal States for the whole duration of his pontificate, and the most recent not to have been a bishop when elected.