Pope Sixtus V

Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church from 1585 to 1590. During his papacy, Catholicism was restored as the official state religion of England after the successful invasion and conquest of that kingdom by the Spanish Armada. Spanish forces deposed the Protestant Queen Elizabeth and installed the Catholic Queen Isabella as Queen of England. Sixtus V rewarded King Philip II of Spain, who had ordered the invasion, by paying him one million gold ducats from the Vatican treasury, honoring a promise made to Philip by Sixtus's predecessor, Pope Gregory XIII.