INNOCENT XII, POPE. - Antonio Pignatelli, born on 13 March 1615 near Spinazzola, of a Neapolitan princely family, died in Rome on 27 September 1700. He pursued his studies at the Roman College of the Jesuits. He entered the Roman prelature under Urban VIII and served as vice-legate of Urbino. Innocent X appointed him inquisitor in Malta, where he remained from 1646 to 1649. He subsequently became governor of Viterbo, and in 1652 was assigned the nunciature of Tuscany, to which were added in 1660 that of Poland and in 1668 that of Vienna. Falling into disfavour with Clement X, the latter removed him from Rome by appointing him Bishop of Lecce. Recalled to Rome in 1673, he was named Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars and later Master of the Papal Household. Innocent XI, who held him in high esteem, created him cardinal on 1 September 1681 and appointed him Bishop of Faenza and Legate of Bologna. Upon the death of Cardinal Caracciolo, he assigned him the archbishopric of Naples, where he distinguished himself by his extraordinary generosity. He was elected pope on 12 July 1691.
A priest of the purest morals and inexhaustible charity, Innocent devoted every care to the moral and material improvement of his people: he greatly expanded the Ospizio di S. Michele a Ripa Grande, where poor young men were received and cared for; he assigned the Lateran Palace to disabled workers. He reorganized the administration, curbing the abuse of the sale of offices, and offset the loss of revenue by reducing court expenses. Through judicial reform, he sought to ensure impartial and honest justice for his subjects, and to streamline the functioning of the courts, he consolidated them all in the Curia Innocentiana (Palazzo di Montecitorio). With the bull *Romanum decet Pontificem* of 22 June 1692, he forbade popes from enriching their nephews and set limits on the income of a relative who might be named a cardinal. He devoted assiduous care to the improvement of the clergy: in 1694 he founded the Congregation for the Discipline and Reform of Regulars; in 1695 he prohibited electoral capitulations for the assignment of bishoprics and monasteries (a practice especially prevalent in Germany). He promoted the development of Propaganda in America, Persia, and China.
In his dealings with the Gallican Church, Innocent was able to reach an agreement with Louis XIV. The French king revoked the decree that had imposed on bishops the obligation to teach the Four Articles, and the bishops sent the Pope letters of apology. Although the retraction was only generic, Innocent had achieved a moral victory and avoided a schism. He also had to intervene in the Jansenist disputes in the Low Countries. With a brief of 1694, he forbade bishops from making any additions to the formulary of Alexander VII or from discussing further the Five Propositions. And since the Jansenists used this to declare Jansen’s book free from censure, Innocent confirmed the decisions of Alexander VII, ordering bishops to proceed canonically against those who contravened through external acts, while forbidding any inquiry into intentions. The question of French Quietism, promoted by the mysticism of the widow Guyon (q.v.), was likewise referred to Innocent’s judgment. Since Guyon had received the approval of Fénelon, a long and bitter controversy arose between him and Bossuet, which ended with the condemnation by the Pope of much of the propositions formulated by Fénelon (1699).
Regarding the international relations of the Holy See, Leopold I, although the Pope had generously supported him in the Turkish war, proved suspicious and hostile, so that Innocent was driven to more cordial interests with France. At his suggestion, Louis XIV inserted in the Peace of Ryswick the clause that in all territories restored, the Catholic religion was to remain in the state in which it was found at the time of the cession. This clause brought scant advantage to Catholicism, for the King of France, in acceding to the Pope’s wish, chiefly aimed to rekindle religious strife in Germany and deftly exploited the persistent tension in relations between Rome and Vienna. The first will of the King of Spain, Charles II, was approved by Innocent; but after the death of the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, the designated heir, Innocent adhered to the Spanish proposal to give the throne to Philip of Anjou, as he judged this most consonant with the interests of the Church.