ALBIZZI, FRANCESCO. - Cardinal, b. at Cesena in 1593, d. at Rome on 3 Oct. 1684. A lawyer in his native city, he received sacred orders after becoming a widower. After a brief period in diplomacy, he was appointed (1635) assessor of the S. Uffizio, an office which, except for a brief interval (1636) when he accompanied Card. Ginetti to the Congress of Cologne, he held for a long time, distinguishing himself especially through his activity during the Jansenist controversies. Under Urbano VIII, he was in fact the drafter of the bull In eminenti (16 March 1642), which condemned the Augustinus; together with the Jesuits he opposed the 5 propositions extracted from this work; he was secretary of the commission appointed in 1653 by Innocenzo X and finally drafted the text of the bull Cum occasione (31 May 1653), which condemned the 5 propositions. This activity, as well as his lack of diplomatic temperament, his caustic spirit, and his harsh and often irascible nature, won him enemies of every kind. Nevertheless, he was created cardinal (2 Dec. 1654) by Innocenzo X, but carried out no political activity of note. Testimony to his keen juridical sense are the works: De iurisdictione quam habent cardinales in ecclesiis suorum
titulorum (Rome, 1666); Risposta alla Storia della sacra inquisizione di Paolo Servita (Rome, 1678); De inconstantia in fide (Rome, 1698).