Which Catholic saint persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy from Avignon to Rome in 1377?

Catherine of Siena persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy from Avignon to Rome in 1377.

Catherine, a Dominican tertiary from Siena, exchanged letters with Gregory XI and urged him to end the papacy’s residence in Avignon. She also traveled to Avignon in 1376, where she met the pope and pressed for reform of the Church and a renewed crusade.

Gregory XI returned to Rome in January 1377, although the papacy’s political difficulties did not end there. After his death, the Western Schism began in 1378, with rival claimants in Rome and Avignon. Catherine supported Urban VI, the Roman pope, and continued advising church leaders until her death in 1380.

Catherine was canonized in 1461 by Pope Pius II. Pope Paul VI proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church in 1970, and she is also a co-patron saint of Europe and Italy.