Editing Pope Clement VIII (section)

==Cardinal==
[[File:Louis de Caulery - Vue de la place Saint-Pierre à Rome lors de l'élection du Pape Clément VIII en 1592 - PPP4833 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris.jpg|thumb|''Election of Pope Clement VIII in 1592'', by [[Louis de Caullery]], [[Petit Palais]] (Paris)]]
He was made [[Cardinal-Priest]] of [[S. Pancrazio]] in 1585 by [[Pope Sixtus V]], who named him [[Apostolic Penitentiary|major penitentiary]] in January 1586 and in 1588 sent him as [[Papal legate]] in [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]]. He placed himself under the spiritual direction of the reformer Saint [[Philip Neri]], who for thirty years was his confessor. Aldobrandini won the gratitude of the [[Habsburg]]s by his [[Treaty of Bytom and Będzin|successful diplomatic efforts]] in Poland to obtain the release of the imprisoned [[Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria|Archduke Maximilian]], the defeated candidate for the Polish throne.<ref name="Loughlin">{{Catholic|title=Pope Clement VIII|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04027a.htm|last=Loughlin|first=James|volume=4|year=1908|access-date=3 September 2014|inline=1}}</ref>

After the death of [[Pope Innocent IX]] (1591), [[Papal conclave, 1592|another stormy conclave]] ensued, in which a determined minority of Italian Cardinals were unwilling to be dictated to by [[Philip II of Spain]]. Known to be very intelligent, disciplined, and in tune with the inner workings of the Church,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://baroque.trinity.duke.edu/items/show/404| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200321214724/https://baroque.trinity.duke.edu/items/show/404| url-status = dead| archive-date = March 21, 2020| title = "Pope Clement VIII," Italian Baroque Art, Duke University}}</ref> Cardinal Aldobrandini was elected on 30 January 1592, as a portent of more balanced and liberal Papal policy in European affairs. He took the non-politicised name Clement VIII. He proved to be an able Pope, with an unlimited capacity for work, and a lawyer's eye for detail. He was a wise statesman, the general object of whose policy was to free the Papacy from its dependence upon [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]].<ref name=Loughlin/>