GREGORIO XV, POPE. — Alessandro Ludovisi, born in Bologna on 9 January 1554, spent two years in Rome at the German College, directed by the Jesuits, and attended the humanities courses at the Roman College; he earned degrees in philosophy and theology in Rome (1569–71), and obtained a degree in law and the venia docendi in Bologna (1575). He then decided to enter the priesthood. Gregory XIII, his fellow citizen, appointed him president of the judges of the Capitoline, entrusted him with accompanying the papal legate Ippolito Aldobrandini to Poland, appointed him a member of the advisory Commission for Ferrara, and made him a referendary of the Segnatura. The Pontiff entrusted him with delicate assignments, which he fulfilled tactfully and to complete satisfaction, such as the appointment of the primate of Spain, the conflict between the papacy and Naples over the question of Benedetto in connection with the French disturbances (August 1604), and the conflict between Paul V and Venice. Appointed archbishop of Bologna (12 March 1612), he was subsequently made a cardinal (19 September 1616) for his work in bringing peace between Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy and Philip III of Spain. He was acclaimed pope at the age of 67 on 9 February 1621. He died on 8 July 1623.
As soon as he was elected, despite being gravely ill, he chose his nephew Ludovico Ludovisi as his collaborator in affairs of state, and appointed him cardinal at the age of 25, on 15 February 1621. He worked in the spirit of the Tridentine Reform and devoted himself especially to the formation of an exemplary clergy. The nephew magnificently complemented his uncle. As a young Secretary of State, he brought to papal policy an impulse of fresh energy, which was to benefit greatly the cause of Catholic restoration. The only negative aspect of the broad and intelligent activity of Cardinal Ludovisi was that his great dignities, honors, ecclesiastical benefices, and conspicuous revenues enabled him to acquire large fiefs (for example, Zagarolo, from the Colonna princes), palaces, and villas. With G. XV, a former pupil of the Jesuits ascended the papal throne for the first time. He appointed new cardinals on two occasions (19 April and 21 July 1621). He displayed great energy in the internal life of the Church, for example, in defending Cardinal Lerma, formerly first minister and all-powerful under Philip III of Spain, who was subsequently prosecuted and interned by his successor Philip IV for illicit enrichment; in connection with a jurisdictional conflict that broke out in Milan; in resisting the Spanish court’s claims to control in advance all papal documents; and in defending the nuncio at the court of the Catholic king. In two bulls he established the electoral code of the conclave, still in force today. He instituted the Congregation of Ecclesiastical Immunity and, perfecting the work of Gregory XIII, the Propaganda Fide for missions not only in America and Asia and in the Portuguese colonies, but also in Great Britain, where the conflict between King James I and Parliament made any attempt at penetration still more difficult, and where, especially in Parliament, antipathy toward Catholics was strong. He authorized the Dominicans to discuss the impeccability of the Virgin Mary, but privately and on condition that they conclude affirmatively; he prohibited ecclesiastics from hearing confessions and preaching without the license of their respective bishops. He canonized St. Teresa, St. Philip Neri, and St. Peter of Alcantara. Mild by nature, he did not wish to permit interventions by the Roman Inquisition; although forbidding heretics to settle in Italy, he did not persecute them; he issued measures against witches and against those who, driven by diabolical fury, sought to harm persons and fields; he reformed the papal Constitution so as to eliminate simony and outside influence; and he protected the Jesuits and the Capuchins.
In the political sphere, under G. the papal policy of consolidation reached its height. He worked to maintain peace among the powers friendly to Rome; he sought to win Great Britain to the Catholic cause by taking advantage of the marriage of the future Charles I to the Spanish infanta and of the accession of James I to the English throne. G. XV intervened to settle the controversy over the Valtellina, thereby seeking to preserve peace between Spain and France, whose longstanding hostility seemed to have ended with the marriage of Louis XIII to the Spanish princess Anne; he exerted influence toward the conclusion of the Treaty of Madrid between Spain and France, which restored the Valtellina (25 April 1621). Unlike the Protestants, who aimed at the fall of the Habsburgs and the destruction of the Catholic Church, G. XV’s policy in Germany was directed toward keeping the Empire in Catholic hands and preserving and defending the ancient faith in Germany. To this end, the mission of the papal nuncio Carlo Carafa was intended to urge the transfer of the electoral seat, left vacant by the ban imposed on the palatine Frederick V, to the Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, a staunch Catholic, thus ensuring a Catholic majority in the College of Electors; it was also to demand that the war against the Protestant princes continue. This policy, which encountered resistance even in the College of Cardinals, triumphed through the tenacity of G. XV, who secretly enfeoffed Maximilian with the Palatine electorate. He urged Philip III to break the truce with the United Provinces concluded in 1609; he encouraged anti-Calvinist tendencies in France and raised the bishopric of Paris to a metropolitan see. G. XV also played a significant role in the new reorganization of Bohemia and Moravia and in their recatholicization after the victory at White Mountain. It was largely through the work of G. XV that the Catholic restoration of the Palatinate was initiated and the “Counter-Reformation” in Hungary consolidated.
G. XV did not survive to see the full exploitation of the victory won in 1621 and 1622 by Maximilian and Tilly.
Perhaps no other brief pontificate left traces as profound as those of G. XV. Elected three months after the victory at White Mountain, he had the good fortune to witness the great transformation accomplished in favor of the Catholic Church. The Protestant edifice collapsed; likewise, the obstinacy of the Palatine and the selfishness of his allies led to Frederick’s complete downfall and to the decline of Calvinism. G. XV issued measures for the poor; he sought to ensure an abundant supply of inexpensive provisions in the Kingdom, constructed a new aqueduct in the Borgo, and restored the city walls. He honored scholarship and the arts, as is demonstrated by the restorations at the Vatican and the decoration of the chapels of the choir in St. Peter’s. — Vedi tav. LXXXIII.