Editing Bessarion (section)

===Cardinal and later life===
{{infobox cardinalstyles
| name     = Bessarion
| dipstyle = [[His Eminence]]
| offstyle = [[Your Eminence]]
| relstyle = [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]]
| see      = [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]]
| image   = Coat of Arms of Cardinal Bessarion.svg
| image_size = 120px
}}
Upon his return to the East, he found himself bitterly resented for his attachment to the minority party that saw no difficulty in a reconciliation of the two churches. Pope Eugene IV invested him with the rank of [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] at the [[papal consistory|consistory]] of 18 December 1439.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}}

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| width             = 200
| image1            = Casina-Bessarion-exterior-1.jpg
| alt1              = 
| caption1          = 
| image2            = Casina-Bessarion-interior.jpg
| alt2              = 
| footer            = The suburban residence of the bishops of Tusculum along the Appian way in Rome, believed to have been built and utilized by Cardinal Bessarion during his episcopate (1449–1468).
}}
From that time, Bessarion resided permanently in Italy, doing much (by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of books and manuscripts, and by his own writings) to spread the [[New Learning]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}} His [[palazzo]] in Rome was a virtual academy for the studies of new [[Renaissance humanism|humanistic learning]], a center for learned Greeks and Greek refugees, whom he supported by commissioning transcripts of Greek manuscripts and translations into Latin that made Greek scholarship available to Western Europeans.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} He supported [[Regiomontanus]] in this fashion and defended [[Nicholas of Cusa]]. He is known in history as the original patron of the Greek exiles (scholars and diplomats) including [[Theodore Gaza]], [[George of Trebizond]], [[John Argyropoulos]], and [[Janus Lascaris]].

He held in succession the [[archbishopric of Siponto]] and the [[suburbicarian see]]s of [[see of Sabina|Sabina]] and [[Frascati]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}} At the [[papal conclave, 1455|papal conclave of 1455]] which elected the Aragonese candidate, Alfons de Borja, as [[Callixtus III]], Cardinal Bessarion was an early candidate, favored on account of his disinterestness in the struggle  between candidates pushed forward by the Roman factions of the [[Orsini family|Orsini]] and [[Colonna family|Colonna]].<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02527b.htm "Johannes Bessarion"], ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907).</ref> He was opposed for his Greek background by the French Cardinal [[Alain de Coëtivy]].

[[File:Chiostri del palazzo dei ss. apostoli, monumento al cardinale bessarione (m. 1472) 01.JPG|thumb|175x175px|Tomb of Bessarion in the [[Santi Apostoli, Rome]].]]
For five years (1450–1455), he was [[papal legate|legate]] at [[Bologna]], and he was engaged on embassies to many foreign princes, among others to [[Louis XI of France]] in 1471.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}}  Other missions were to Germany to encourage Western princes to help their fellow Christians in the East.  For these efforts, his fellow humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, then [[Pope Pius II|Pius II]], gave him the purely ceremonial title of [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople]] in 1463. As ''primus Cardinalium'' (from April 1463) – the title [[Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals]] was not yet in use – Cardinal Bessarion presided over the [[Papal conclave, 1464]]<ref>J. P. Adams, [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1464.html ''Sede Vacante of 1464''.] Retrieved: 6 April 2016.</ref> and [[Papal conclave, 1471]].<ref>J. P. Adams, [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1471.html ''Sede Vacante 1471''.] Retrieved: 6 April 2016.</ref>

He died on 18 November 1472 at [[Ravenna]]. He is buried in the basilica of the [[Santi Apostoli, Rome]].