Editing Pope Pius III (section)

====Conclaves of 1484 and 1492====
{{main|1484 papal conclave|1492 papal conclave}}

Todeschini-Piccolomini participated in the conclave of 1484 which resulted in the election of [[Pope Innocent VIII]], and as the protodeacon he made the first public announcement of the election and [[Papal coronation|crowned]] the new pope. According to [[Stefano Infessura]], he was one of the half-dozen cardinals who had slept soundly in their beds on the night between 28 August and 29 August, and had not participated in the clandestine midnight conferences that produced a two-thirds majority for Cardinal Giovanni Battista Cibo. Neither had he engaged in the extensive simoniac trading that took place.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stefano Infessura|editor=Oreste Tommasini|title=Diario della città di Roma di Stefano Infessura scribasenato|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RF8KAAAAIAAJ|year=1890|publisher=Forzani|location=Roma|language=la|page=171}}</ref>

He was made the administrator of [[Fermo]] in 1485; he resigned the position in 1494, in favor of Agostino Piccolomini{{Citation needed|reason=Have not seen any reference to Fermo in any information about Agostino, if this is reffering to Agostino Patrizi|date=January 2024}}. He was reappointed when Agostino resigned in 1496, and he kept that post until his election to the Papacy.

He was appointed papal legate to Perugia on 5 November 1488, and departed Rome on 15 November. He served in Perugia until 1489.<ref>Eubel II, p. 49, no. 532.</ref>

Todeschini-Piccolomini participated in the conclave of 1492 which elected [[Pope Alexander VI]]. He belonged to the faction of the more senior cardinals who gathered around Cardinal [[Oliviero Carafa]] of Naples. Cardinal Francesco was sufficiently respected that he received six votes at the first scrutiny (Sixteen were needed to elect), seven on the second, and one on the third. He resisted the election of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia almost to the end, as one of the five hold-outs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ferdinando La Torre|title=Del conclave di Alessandro VI, papa Borgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10YsAAAAIAAJ|year=1933|publisher=Olschki|location=Firenze|language=it|pages=89–92|isbn=9788822217837}}</ref> As Cardinal Protodeacon Piccolomini announced and crowned the new pontiff.

He served as the protector of [[Kingdom of England|England]] at the Roman Curia from 1492 to 1503,<ref>Wilkie, 1974, p. 18.</ref> and of [[Germany]].

He was appointed legate to King [[Charles VIII of France]], whose army was then entering Tuscany, in the consistory of 1 October 1494, departing Rome on 17 October; he returned to Rome on 5 March 1495, after the King declined to meet him.<ref>C. Maumené, [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k431824g/f676.image.r=Maumene "Une ambassade du pape Alexandre VI au roi Charles VIII. Le cardinal François Piccolomini,"] in: ''Revue de Deux Mondes'', série 5, LII (1909), pp. 677–708. {{in lang|fr}} Eubel II, pp. 51–52, nos. 560, 562, 575.</ref> On 27 May 1495, he and numerous other cardinals accompanied Pope Alexander VI on a visit to [[Orvieto]], which had been arranged to avoid a meeting between the Pope and King Charles, who was returning from his expedition against [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]]. Charles was in Rome from 1 to 4 June, and the Pope and his retinue returned to the city on 27 June.<ref>Eubel II, p. 52, no. 580. {{cite book|author=Ferdinand Gregorovius|title=History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MaA4AQAAMAAJ|edition=from 4th German|volume=VII, part 1|year=1900|publisher=G. Bell & sons|location=London|pages=396–401}}</ref>

He was named the administrator of the diocese of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Pienza#Diocese of Pienza e Montalcino|Pienza and Montalcino]] on 31 October 1495, and occupied it until 14 March 1498, when he resigned in favor of his relative, Girolamo Piccolomini.<ref>Eubel II, p. 216.</ref>

Following the murder of his son [[Giovanni Borgia (1474–1497)|Giovanni Borgia]] in 1497, Alexander VI appointed Francesco Piccolomini a member of a commission of six cardinals, in a short-lived effort to reform the [[Roman Curia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Mandell Creighton|title=A History of the Papacy During the Period of the Reformation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfdJAAAAMAAJ|volume=III: The Italian Princes|year=1887|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin & Company|location=Boston|pages=256–258}} The names of the six cardinals are given in [https://archive.org/details/idiariidimarinos01sanu/page/n6/mode/2up ''I diarii di Marino Sanuto''] Tomo I (Venezia 1879), p. 654: Oliviero Carafa, Jorge da Costa, Giovanni San Giorgio, Antoniotto Pallavicini, Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, and Raffaele Riario.</ref> On 8 February 1501, Pope Alexander also appointed Piccolomini, in his capacity as Protodeacon, to a commission to take charge of the income from the [[tithe]] (''decuma''), and dispensing it for yet another contemplated crusade against the Turks.<ref>Eubel II, p. 55, no. 637. Pastor VI, pp. 85–102, at p. 99.</ref>