Adrian VI (or Hadrian VI) (1459–1523)

Pope 1522–23, born in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Though his period in office was very short, he is significant for having tried to check both the growth of Lutheranism and the threat to Europe of Turkish power, and also for beginning the reform of the Catholic Church.

He served as tutor to Emperor Charles V and in 1516 became the virtual ruler of Spain as inquisitor-general of Aragon. When he became pope the Church was facing a number of major problems: Martin Luther had become a serious threat to Church authority, the Turks were a growing menace in eastern Europe, and Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France, two of Europe's most powerful rulers, were at war.

Adrian's significance lies in his aims rather than his achievements. Most notable is his instruction in December 1522 to Father Chieregati – Rome's representative in Nuremberg, where support for Luther was very strong – which admitted that reform of the Church was inevitable and had to begin with the curia itself. This broke the pattern established by earlier Renaissance popes and can be seen as the beginning of the Counter-Reformation.