Editing Pope Alexander VII (section)

=== Election as pope ===
{{main|Papal conclave, 1655}}

When Innocent X died on 7 January 1655, Cardinal Chigi was elected pope after eighty days in the [[Papal election|conclave]], on 7 April 1655, taking the name of Alexander VII, in honor of [[Pope Alexander III]].<ref>J. P. Adams, [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1655.html ''Sede Vacante 1655''.] Retrieved: 19 March 2016.</ref>

On the morning of his election as he went to celebrate Mass before the final ballot, Chigi was greeted by his friend [[Luigi Omodei (1607–1685)|Luigi Omodei]] who, knowing that Chigi was soon to be elected, said: "At length that day has come, so desired by me, and so happy for the Church!" Chigi replied to Omodei by reciting [[Virgil]] and said: "That day I shall always recollect with grief; with reverence also for the gods so willed it". During the final ballot, Chigi had cast his vote for [[Giulio Cesare Sacchetti]] while in the accesso casting it for [[Giovanni Maria Battista Pallotta]]. Upon his election, one of the cardinals remarked: "What a singular thing! The Spaniards disinterestedly wished you to be pope; the French wished it, though they had at first excluded you; the young men chose a man already aged, and the Barberini a man who was not their own creature!"<ref name=UC>{{cite web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Pope_Alexander_VII/Montor_bio*.html|title=Alexander VII|date=1911|publisher=|author=Alexis-François Artaud de Montor|accessdate=13 December 2022}}</ref>

Upon his election, he was crowned on 18 April 1655 by the Cardinal [[Protodeacon]] [[Gian Giacomo Teodoro Trivulzio]] before taking possession of the [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]] on the following 9 May.

One of his first acts as pope was to order [[Olimpia Maidalchini]] (known popularly as "la papessa" due to her extraordinary influence over Pope Innocent X) to return to her native town of Orvieto.<ref name=EC>{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/alexander-vii|title=Alexander VII|author=|publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia|date=|accessdate=13 December 2022}}</ref> Maidalchini had been a rival of sorts since Chigi's office as Secretary of State commanded much power which Maidalchini hoped to utilize for her own ends while she worked with Cardinal [[Decio Azzolino]] to try to circumvent Chigi's authority with the hopes of having Chigi either effectively sidelined or replaced.