INNOCENT XI, POPE. - Born at Como on 19 May 1611, died at Rome on 12 August 1689. Benedetto Odescalchi, from a wealthy merchant family, had begun his early studies at Como, studied law at Rome and Naples, and there obtained his degree; he had been a protonotary, commissioner of the market, governor of Macerata, cardinal (6 March 1645), legate of Ferrara (1645–50), and bishop of Novara (1650–54). He lived in great retirement, attending to his duties as cardinal and to works of piety and charity, when, according to the expectation of many but against his own will and only after a capitulation drawn up by himself and subscribed to by all the cardinals, he was elected pope on 21 September 1676.
He was tall in stature, with a broad forehead, aquiline nose, and prominent chin; dignified in bearing, reserved, and averse to applause. Free from nepotism, to the point of declaring that he had neither house nor family, he wished to issue a bull against it, but was prevented by the opposition of cardinals and governments. He abolished the office of cardinal-nephew and gave the Secretariat of State the organization it still retains.
He took great care for religion and morality. He ordered preaching of the Gospel in simple and practical terms, catechetical instruction for children and adults, observance of monastic rules; he provided for the education of the young, spiritual assistance to the sick; he promoted the cult of the Eucharist; he wanted fewer but better priests, and paid great attention to the selection of bishops and ecclesiastical dignitaries. He imposed modesty in women’s dress and, though with difficulty, achieved some improvement; he fought usury and gambling; he barely tolerated theatrical performances, with restrictions; in years of particular hardship he even forbade carnival amusements.
By setting the first example of rigid economy—reducing offices and salaries, eliminating waste, even renting out the papal gardens—he restored the finances and had funds for the defense of Europe against the Turk, for the provisioning of Rome and the State in years of famine, and for extensive charity. He wished that justice be administered uprightly and reformed the tribunals of the Curia, though without entirely suppressing abuses.
He defended the integrity of religious doctrine, keeping aloof from any form of interconfessionalism. He worked for the conversion of Protestants but insisted that guarantees of seriousness and disinterestedness be given. He fought against the Portuguese Inquisition, seeking to reserve to himself the judgment—often vitiated by political interests—on converted Jews and those suspected of Judaism. He greeted with joy the accession to the throne of England of the Catholic King James II and sent Girolamo d’Adda on a mission to him; yet he counselled prudence and tolerance, resisted the king’s pretensions, and though deploring his expulsion, did not aid the deposed monarch.
His ascetic bent and some gaps in his theological culture made him somewhat inclined toward Jansenism; yet the Congregation of the Council approved frequent and even daily Communion. At first he showed esteem and sympathy for Miguel de Molinos, advocate of Quietism (q.v.); he had works contrary to his doctrine condemned; he made Pier Matteo Petrucci, a friend of Molinos, a bishop and cardinal. But he pronounced no dogmatic definition in favor of Quietism; indeed, he approved the condemnation by the Holy Office of 68 propositions of Molinos (28 November 1687), who, after his abjuration, remained in prison. Opposed to laxist morality, he confirmed the condemnation of 65 probabilist propositions (1679) and a decree of the Holy Office recognizing the Jesuit Tirso González’s
INNOCENT X, Pope – Portrait painted by Diego Velázquez (1650) – Rome, Galleria Doria.
freedom to uphold, against the prevailing opinions in his own Order, probabiliorism, and later procured González’s election as General (1687).
A staunch defender of papal authority, he was long embroiled with Louis XIV. He praised the king’s zeal in repressing Calvinism and celebrated the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685); yet he neither approved Louis’s brutal methods nor admitted the king’s interference in religious matters. He condemned the extension to all France of the right of regalia—that is, royal administration of vacant dioceses—and resisted the king’s interference in ecclesiastical appointments. And when the Assembly of the French Clergy voted the Four Articles of Gallican liberties (March 1682), he branded as weak the bishops who consented, condemned the Assembly’s decisions (brief of 11 April 1682), and refused to preconize bishops who were members of it unless they retracted the articles.
He aided Venice against the Turks in the War of Candia and envisaged a league, which foundered on Venetian distrust; later he came into conflict with Venice over the violation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
He encouraged the historical studies of Sforza Pallavicino and Rinaldi. Continuing, on a smaller scale, the great building works of his predecessors, he commissioned from Bernini the decoration of the longitudinal pillars and the “musical” pavement of the central nave of St Peter’s and the colossal equestrian statue of Constantine; from Algardi the great relief of the altar of St Leo the Great; from Borromini the Baroque remodeling of the Basilica of St John Lateran. He had Piazza Navona arranged in the ancient form of a stadium, with the Palazzo Pamphili by Girolamo Rinaldi, the church of St Agnes by Borromini, and the monumental fountains by Bernini, while his nephew Camillo, with Algardi’s collaboration, created the villa on the Gianicolo. He had Carlo Rinaldi continue work on the Palazzo del Museo Capitolino and Antonio del Grande design the “Carceri Nuove” in Via Giulia “securiori ac mitiori reorum custodiae,” a work at once of enlightened patronage and exceptional humanity for those times.
Innocent X, Pope – Portrait painted by Diego Velázquez (1620) – Rome, Galleria Doria.
INNOCENT XI, Pope – The Pope receives the homage of the ambassadors of Siam presented by Fr. G. Tachard. Unknown, 17th century – Rome, Collezione Odescalchi.
A new source of conflict with the Sun King arose from the Pope’s decision (a circular to the nuncios of 4 January 1677, a bull of 12 May 1687) to abolish the “quarter” of ambassadors, namely the right of exemption and asylum in their buildings. The French envoy de La-Vardin entered Rome with armed men (16 November 1687) and fortified himself in the Palazzo Farnese; the Pope declared not only the ambassador but the King himself and his ministers excommunicated. The dispute intensified when the King attempted to install the French creature, Cardinal von Fürstenberg, in the archiepiscopal see of Cologne. Parliament and King appealed to a Council (8 February and 27 September 1688); Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin were occupied, and the Pope was threatened with armed intervention. Innocent did not yield; yet the issues were resolved only after his death.
The chief glory of Innocent XI was his having been the soul of Christendom’s defence against the Turk. The attempt to unite for this struggle not only the Christian nations of the West but also the non-Christian states of the East failed because of the lack of religious fervour, the divisions among Christians, and Louis XIV’s policy aimed at destroying the Habsburgs and expanding France’s frontiers, even if it meant indirect support of the Turks. The Pope nevertheless took part in the negotiations at Nijmegen (1677–79); and though he regarded the treaties as prejudicial to the Church’s rights, he confined himself to a moderate protest so as not to compromise the cause of peace. Later too he worked for the truce concluded at Regensburg between France and the Habsburgs (1684). He deserves great credit for the alliance between the Emperor and King John Sobieski of Poland (1 April 1683), which led to the victory of Vienna, and for the adhesion of Venice (March 1684) and Russia (1686) to the “Holy League.” He contributed substantially to the liberation of Buda (1686) and to the successful campaigns that stemmed the new Turkish advance and saved European civilisation. The war between France and the Emperor hindered the completion of this enterprise.
The remains of Innocent XI repose in St Peter’s beneath a magnificent monument by Monnot. The people, who in life had shown little love for him because of his austerity, later venerated him as a saint. Indeed, the process for his canonisation was begun in 1714 and continued under Benedict