Urban VIII, Maffeo Barberini (1568–1644)

Pope 1623–44. His policies during the Thirty Years' War were designed more to maintain the balance of forces in Europe and prevent one side from dominating the papacy than to further the Counter-Reformation. He extended the papal dominions and improved their defences. During his papacy, Galileo was summoned in 1633 to recant the theories that the Vatican condemned as heretical.