Pope Alexander VIII

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Pope Alexander VIII

Pope Alexander VIII (April 22 1610 – February 1 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
from 1689 to 1691.

ro Ottoboni was born of a noble Venetian

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
family, and was the son of Marco Ottoboni, chancellor of the Republic of Venice

Republic of Venice

The Most Serene Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice . It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797....
. His early studies were made with marked brilliancy at the University of Padua

University of Padua

The University of Padua , located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the university and the third oldest in Italy....
, where, in 1627, he earned a doctorate in canon

Canon law

Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church churches, and the Anglicanism of churches....
and civil law.

ent to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was Pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last Pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions....
(1623–44), and was made governor of Terni

Terni

Terni is an ancient town of Italy, capital of Province of Terni in southern Umbria, in the plain of the Nera River . It is 104 km N of Rome, 36 km NW of Rieti, and 29 km S of Spoleto....
, Rieti

Rieti

Rieti is a town in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti.The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake....
, and Spoleto

Spoleto

Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italy province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennine Mountains. It is 20 km S....
.

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Pope Alexander VIII (April 22 1610 – February 1 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was Pope

Pope

Early life

Pietro Ottoboni was born of a noble Venetian

Venice

Republic of Venice

University of Padua

Canon law

Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church churches, and the Anglicanism of churches....
and civil law.

Governor of Terni, Rieti and Spoleto

He went to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII

Terni

Terni is an ancient town of Italy, capital of Province of Terni in southern Umbria, in the plain of the Nera River . It is 104 km N of Rome, 36 km NW of Rieti, and 29 km S of Spoleto....
, Rieti

Rieti

Spoleto

Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italy province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennine Mountains. It is 20 km S....
. For fourteen years he served as auditor of the Rota

Sacra Rota Romana

The Tribunal of the Rota Romana or the Sacred Roman Rota is the highest appellate court of the Latin Rite and several of the Eastern Catholic Churches and is the second highest ecclesiastical court constituted by the Holy See....
. At the request of the Venetian Republic, Ottoboni was made cardinal by Pope Innocent X

Pope Innocent X

Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle Girolamo Pamphilj as auditor of the Rot...
(1644–55) in 1652, and was later given the bishopric of Brescia

Bishopric of Brescia

The Diocese of Brescia is a episcopal see of the Catholic Church in Italy. The diocese is suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan, also in Lombardy ....
, in Venetian territory, where he quietly spent the best years of middle life.

Pontificate

The ambassador of Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV ruled as List of French monarchs and of King of Navarre. He ascended the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his prime minister , the Italians Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661....
(1643–1715) succeeded in procuring his election on October 6, 1689, as successor to Pope Innocent XI

Pope Innocent XI

Pope Innocent XI , born Benedetto Odescalchi, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1676 to 1689....
(1676–89); nevertheless, after months of negotiation Alexander VIII finally condemned the declaration

Declaration of the Clergy of France

Under the Declaration of the Clergy of France of 1682, the following privileges were claimed by Early Modern France in relation to the Holy See....
made in 1682 by the French clergy concerning the liberties of the Gallican church.

Alexander VIII was already an octogenarian when elected to the papacy, and lived but sixteen months, during which time little of importance was done. Louis XIV, whose political situation was now critical, profited by the peaceful dispositions of the new pope, restored Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a Communes of France in the Vaucluse Departments of France in southeastern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the aire urbaine at the 1999 census....
to him, and renounced the long-abused right of asylum

Right of asylum

Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecution for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereignty, a foreign country, or Christian Church sanctuary ....
for the French Embassy.

Financial controversies

Charities on a large scale and unbounded nepotism (among the various nominations, his 22-year-old nephew Pietro was made cardinal, nephew Marco Duc of Fiano and nephew Antonio Church general) exhausted the papal treasury, reversing the policies of his predecessor. Out of compassion for the poor of the impoverished Papal States

Papal States

The Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia ....
, he sought to help them by reducing taxes. But this same generous nature led him to bestow on his relations the riches they were eager to accumulate; on their behalf, and to the discredit of his pontificate, he revived sinecure

Sinecure

A sinecure means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. Sinecures have historically provided a potent tool for governments or monarchs to distribute patronage, while recipients are able to store up titles and easy salaries....
offices which had been suppressed by Innocent XI. He bought the books and manuscripts of Queen Christina of Sweden

Christina of Sweden

Christina , later known as Christina Alexandra and sometimes Countess Dohna, was Monarch of Sweden of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg....
for the Vatican Library

Vatican Library

The Vatican Library , is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts....
. Alexander VIII assisted his native Venice by generous subsidies in the war against the Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
, as well as sending seven galleys and 2,000 infantry for the campaign in Albania

Albania

Albania , officially the Republic of Albania , is a country in Balkans. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east....
. In 1690 he condemned the doctrines of the so-called philosophical sin

Philosophical sin

The existence of philosophical sin was a debate waged in the Roman Catholic Church in the late seventeenth century. The idea of a "philosophic sin," as opposed to "theological sin" was advocated by those who would construct a moral system independent of God....
, taught in the Jesuit

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
schools. That year he also canonised St. John of God

John of God

Saint John of God was a Portugal-born friar and saint, who has become one of Spain leading religious figures.St. John of God was born Jo?o Cidade in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, into a once prominent family that was impoverished but had great religious faith....
.

Alexander VIII died on February 1, 1691. His tomb in St. Peter's

St. Peter's Basilica

The Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian language as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City....
was designed by Count Arrigo di San Martino and sculpted (1691-1725) by Angelo de' Rossi and Giuseppe Bertosi.

Pope Alexander VIII

Early life

Governor of Terni, Rieti and Spoleto

Pontificate

Financial controversies

External links