St Pius V got on with it.

[Greg]

Lepanto, the Liturgy, Huguenots, excommunicating Queen Bess.

Pius V got a huge amount of stuff done in six years of being Pope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_V

[rbjmartin]

He also decreed that sodomites in the city of Rome were to be burned at the stake. I'm not sure if he actually had anyone burned, but there it is.

[LouisIX]

Any pope can get a lot done in a very short amount of time if they really want to.  The modern lie that the pope's hands are tied is ridiculous.

At the very least, you attempt reform and are killed for it.

[VeraeFidei]

I was reading about St. Pius V on his Feast Day and was amazed when I learned that His Pontificate only lasted six years. I suppose I assumed that because he did so much, His must have been a long Pontificate. It shows that a Pope in tumultuous times can get things done quickly if He really wants to do so.

[VeraeFidei]

He also decreed that sodomites in the city of Rome were to be burned at the stake. I'm not sure if he actually had anyone burned, but there it is.

I remember reading something promulgated by Pius V on this subject. Can you post it? I would be interested to re-read it.

[Lyubov]

I remember reading something promulgated by Pius V on this subject. Can you post it? I would be interested to re-read it.

Is this it, perhaps? I can't find much else, but this is a declaration made by Pope St. Pius V in 1568:

That horrible crime, on account of which corrupt and obscene cities were destroyed by fire through divine condemnation, causes us most bitter sorrow and shocks our mind, impelling us to repress such a crime with the greatest possible zeal.

Quite opportunely the Fifth Lateran Council [1512-1517] issued this decree: "Let any member of the clergy caught in that vice against nature, given that the wrath of God falls over the sons of perfidy, be removed from the clerical order or forced to do penance in a monastery" (chap. 4, X, V, 31).

So that the contagion of such a grave offense may not advance with greater audacity by taking advantage of impunity, which is the greatest incitement to sin, and so as to more severely punish the clerics who are guilty of this nefarious crime and who are not frightened by the death of their souls, we determine that they should be handed over to the severity of the secular authority, which enforces civil law.

Therefore, wishing to pursue with greater rigor than we have exerted since the beginning of our pontificate, we establish that any priest or member of the clergy, either secular or regular, who commits such an execrable crime, by force of the present law be deprived of every clerical privilege, of every post, dignity and ecclesiastical benefit, and having been degraded by an ecclesiastical judge, let him be immediately delivered to the secular authority to be put to death, as mandated by law as the fitting punishment for laymen who have sunk into this abyss.

[Heinrich]

I was reading about St. Pius V on his Feast Day and was amazed when I learned that His Pontificate only lasted six years. I suppose I assumed that because he did so much, His must have been a long Pontificate. It shows that a Pope in tumultuous times can get things done quickly if He really wants to do so.

Demonstrates what virtuous conduct produces: Sainthood. 

[VeraeFidei]

I remember reading something promulgated by Pius V on this subject. Can you post it? I would be interested to re-read it.

Is this it, perhaps? I can't find much else, but this is a declaration made by Pope St. Pius V in 1568:

That horrible crime, on account of which corrupt and obscene cities were destroyed by fire through divine condemnation, causes us most bitter sorrow and shocks our mind, impelling us to repress such a crime with the greatest possible zeal.

Quite opportunely the Fifth Lateran Council [1512-1517] issued this decree: "Let any member of the clergy caught in that vice against nature, given that the wrath of God falls over the sons of perfidy, be removed from the clerical order or forced to do penance in a monastery" (chap. 4, X, V, 31).

So that the contagion of such a grave offense may not advance with greater audacity by taking advantage of impunity, which is the greatest incitement to sin, and so as to more severely punish the clerics who are guilty of this nefarious crime and who are not frightened by the death of their souls, we determine that they should be handed over to the severity of the secular authority, which enforces civil law.

Therefore, wishing to pursue with greater rigor than we have exerted since the beginning of our pontificate, we establish that any priest or member of the clergy, either secular or regular, who commits such an execrable crime, by force of the present law be deprived of every clerical privilege, of every post, dignity and ecclesiastical benefit, and having been degraded by an ecclesiastical judge, let him be immediately delivered to the secular authority to be put to death, as mandated by law as the fitting punishment for laymen who have sunk into this abyss.

I believe so. Thank you for posting. I noted the repeated mention of the concern for the souls of the clergy committing such vice.