This week in Christian history: Pat Robertson controversy, Turkey allows church

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 31, 2023

Pope Gregory XIII born – Jan. 1, 1502

A portrait of Pope Gregory XIII (1502-1585), the man who commissioned the creation of the Gregorian calendar. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when Ugo Boncompagni, a Catholic Church official who would later be elected pope and take the name of Gregory XIII, was born in Bologna, Italy.

A former professor who held a doctorate in civil and canon law, Gregory XIII is most famous for overseeing a revision of the Western calendar, which is known as the Gregorian calendar in his honor.

“Simple in his style of life and sincerely pious, Gregory energetically advanced the Catholic Reformation. He insisted that bishops reside in their sees and fulfill their episcopal obligations,” explained Encyclopedia.com.

“Convinced of the value of education, he founded at Rome several national colleges for the training of priests, the English, the Greek, the Maronite, the Armenian, and the Hungarian, joining the last to the already established German College.”