BUSCA, IGNAZIO. - Cardinal, b. in Milano on 23 Nov. 1731, d. in Roma on 12 Aug. 1803. Nuncio in Fiandra from Sept. 1775 to June 1785, with the title of archbishop of Emesa. Then governor of Roma, he was created cardinal by Pio VI with the title of S. Maria degli Angeli. In Aug. 1796 he succeeded Card. Zelada in the office of Secretary of State. Although in principle favourable to agreements with Bonaparte, Card. B., faced with the exorbitant French demands, broke off negotiations and endeavoured to safeguard the State of the Church from the French threat, both in the diplomatic sphere by opening negotiations with Napoli and Vienna, and in military preparations through the reorganization of the pontifical army. After Bonaparte’s invasion of the ecclesiastical states and after the signing of the Treaty of Tolentino, Card. B. left his high office.
BBL.: G. Moroni, Diz. di erud. storico-ecclesiastica, VI, Venezia 1840, p. 171; J. Du Teil, Rome, Naples et le Directoire, Parigi 1902, passim; Pastor, XVI, III, especially p. 614 ff.