Papacy
| Papal styles of Pope Innocent XII |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | None |
Pope Alexander VIII died in 1691 and the College of Cardinals assembled to hold a conclave. Factions loyal to the Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Spain and the broader Holy Roman Empire failed to agree on a consensus candidate. After five months, Cardinal Pignatelli emerged as a compromise candidate between the cardinals of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
Immediately after his election on 12 July 1691, Innocent XII declared his opposition to the nepotism which had afflicted the reigns of previous popes. The following year he issued the papal bull, Romanum decet Pontificem, banning the curial office of the Cardinal-Nephew and prohibiting popes from bestowing estates, offices, or revenues on any relative. Further, only one relative (and only "if otherwise suitable") was to be raised to the cardinalate.
At the same time he sought to check the simoniacal tendencies in the practices of the Apostolic Chamber and to that end introduced a simpler and more economical manner of life into his court. Innocent XII said that "the poor were his nephews", comparing his public beneficence to the nepotism of many predecessors.
Innocent XII also introduced various reforms into the States of the Church including the Forum Innocentianum, designed to improve the administration of justice dispensed by the Church. In 1693 he compelled French bishops to retract the four propositions relating to the Gallican Liberties which had been formulated by the assembly of 1682. In 1699, he decided in favour of Jacques-Benigne Bossuet in that prelate's controversy with Fénelon about the Explication des Maximes des Saints sur la Vie Intérieure of the latter. Innocent XII's pontificate also differed greatly to those of his predecessors because of his leanings towards France instead of Germany; the first in the 20 years following France's failure to have its candidate elected in 1644 and 1655.
Pope Innocent XII died on 27 September 1700 and was succeeded by Pope Clement XI (1700–1721). His tomb at St. Peter's Basilica was sculpted by Filippo della Valle.
Read more about this topic: Pope Innocent XII
Famous quotes containing the word papacy:
“The Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
“The Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
“The Papacy is no other than the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof; For so did the Papacy start up on a Sudden out of the Ruins of that Heathen Power.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)