Pope Julius II Biography

Pope Julius II, who was better known as the 'Fearsome Pope' to his colleagues and as the 'Warrior Pope' to common people, was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to 1513. His papal name was not in honor of Pope Julius I but in emulation of Julius Caesar, and he acted more like a warrior who focused on re-establishing the Pontifical States and delivering Italy from its subjection to France. However, he never neglected his duties as the spiritual head of the Church, and heard mass almost daily and often celebrated it himself. He issued a strict bull against simony at papal elections; condemned the heresy of Piero de Lucca; instituted Capella Julia, a school for ecclesiastical chant; and convoked the Fifth Lateran Council to eradicate abuses from the church. He is also remembered as a patron of the arts who hired Michelangelo to repaint the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, commissioned four exquisitely painted rooms from Raphael, and commissioned Bramante for the construction of a new basilica in place of old St. Peter's.