Pope Urban VI was born with the given name of Bartolomeo Prignano in the year 1318 A.D., and died in 1389 A.D. He began his reign as Pope in the year 1378 A.D. and ended his reign in the year 1389 A.D., during the Late Middle Ages. Urban VI was from Naples, and his papal number is: 202 out of 267 officially recognized Roman Catholic Popes.
Summary: First pope of the Western Schism, whose severity deepened division.
Biography:Urban VI was the pope whose election in 1378 triggered the Western Schism when dissenting cardinals later claimed the election invalid and chose a rival claimant. His personal severity and harsh reforming manner exacerbated tensions at a moment requiring unusual prudence.
Despite this, he remained the Roman pope recognized by part of Christendom, while rival obediences formed around Avignon. His pontificate belongs to one of the most painful crises of papal unity.
Urban VI’s legacy is bound to the beginning of the schism, a reminder that papal history includes fractures that wounded the very sign of ecclesial unity.
