Editing Pope Benedict XIV (section)

===Finances===
At the beginning of his reign, the papal government was heavily in debt, to the amount of 56,000,000 [[scudi]], and was running an annual deficit of more than 200,000 scudi. Benedict attempted to improve the finances of the Papal States, but even at his death the administration was still running a deficit.<ref>{{cite book|author=Moritz Brosch|title=Geschichte des Kirchenstaates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDg3AQAAMAAJ|volume=Zweiter Band|year=1882|publisher=F. A. Perthes|location=Gotha|language=de|pages=93–96}}</ref> His greatest economic action was the reduction in the size of the Papal army, which had become ineffectual in terms of contemporary military practice, even in keeping order inside the Papal States; and he severely reduced the pay of both officers and soldiers.<ref>Pastor, Vol. 35, p. 141.</ref> He instituted economies in his own household and in the bureaucracy, but these were insignificant in terms of the debt and deficit. In 1741, on the advice of Cardinal Aldovrandini (who had nearly been elected pope instead of Benedict), he instituted a new tax, a duty on stamped paper on legal documents; it did not produce the revenue expected, and it was abolished in 1743. He reduced taxes on imported cattle, oil, and raw silk, but imposed new taxes on lime, china clay, salt, wine, straw, and hay. In 1744 he raised taxes on land, house rents, feudal grants to barons, and pensions derived from prebends.<ref>Pastor, p. 142.</ref>

Despite these fiscal problems, the Papacy was able to buy two frigates in Britain, and in April 1745 Benedict personally christened a galley, named the ''Benedetta'', which he had ordered constructed. He also ordered the modernization of the harbor of [[Anzio]], but the work was so expensive that it had to be abandoned in 1752.<ref>Pastor, p. 154.</ref>

He encouraged agriculture and free trade and drastically cut the military budget, but was unable to completely reform the administration, still corrupt from previous papacies. At the [[University of Bologna]] he revived the practice of anatomical studies and established a chair of surgery. He had a clear view of ecclesiastical problems, had respect for differing opinions and an ability to distinguish between dogma and theory.