Editing Pope Clement X

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1670 to 1676}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Clement X
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| image = Portrait of Pope Clement X, by Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Baciccio) - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Giovanni Battista Gaulli]], {{circa|1671}}<br><small>([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[NYC]])</small>
| birth_name = Emilio Bonaventura Altieri
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 29 April 1670
| term_end = 22 July 1676
| predecessor = [[Clement IX]]
| successor = [[Innocent XI]]
| ordination = 6 April 1624 by [[Marcantonio Barbarigo]]
| ordinated_by = 
| consecration = 30 November 1627
| consecrated_by = [[Scipione Caffarelli-Borghese]]
| cardinal = 29 November 1669
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Clement IX|Clement IX]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1590|7|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1676|7|22|1590|7|13}}
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| other = Clement
| signature = Signature of Pope Clement X.svg
| coat_of_arms = C o a Clementem X.svg
| previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* Bishop of Camerino (1627–1666)
* Apostolic [[Nuncio]] to the [[Kingdom of Naples]] (1644–1652)
* Secretary of the S.C. of Bishops and Regulars (1657–1667)
}}
}}
{{infobox popestyles
|image      = C o a Clementem X.svg
|dipstyle   = [[His Holiness]]
|offstyle   = Your Holiness
|relstyle   = Holy Father
|deathstyle = None
|}}
'''Pope Clement X''' ({{langx|la|Clemens X}}; {{langx|it|Clemente X}}; 13 July 1590&nbsp;– 22 July 1676), born '''Emilio Bonaventura Altieri''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 29 April 1670 to his death on 22 July 1676.

Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, born in Rome in 1590, belonged to the [[Papal nobility]]. He received a doctorate in law and held various positions within the Catholic Church, including [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Camerino-San Severino Marche|Bishop of Camerino]] and Superintendent of the Papal Exchequer. At the age of almost 80, he was elected Pope Clement X in 1670 after a four-month-long conclave. As Pope, he canonized and beatified various saints, promoted good relations between Christian countries, and made efforts to preserve the [[Altieri family]] name by adopting the Paoluzzi family. He also established a new tax in Rome, which led to conflicts with ambassadors and cardinals. Clement X celebrated the fourteenth [[Jubilee in the Catholic Church|jubilee]] of the holy year in 1675 despite his old age. During his pontificate, he created 20 cardinals, including Pietro Francesco Orsini, who later became [[Pope Benedict XIII]].

He suspended the [[Portuguese Inquisition]]'s proceedings in October 1674, challenging the techniques employed against its main victims, the New Christians. <ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Saraiva |first=António José |title=The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |pages=82, 177 |language=}}</ref>

==Early life==
Emilio Bonaventura Altieri was born in [[Rome]] in 1590, the son of Lorenzo [[Altieri family|Altieri]] and Vittoria [[Delfin (family)|Delfin]], a noble [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] lady, sister of [[Flaminio Delfin]], commander general of the Papal Army, and of [[Gentile Dolfino|Gentile Delfin]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Camerino-San Severino Marche|Bishop of Camerino]]. His brother was Cardinal [[Giambattista Altieri]]. The Altieri family belonged to the ancient Roman [[Papal nobility]] and had enjoyed the highest consideration at Rome for several centuries; they had occasionally contracted alliances with the [[Colonna family|Colonna]]s and the [[Orsini family|Orsini]]s. During earlier pontificates, the Altieri held many important offices and had been entrusted with several delicate missions.<ref name=Loughlin>{{Catholic|title=Pope Clement X|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04028b.htm|last=Loughlin|first=James|volume=4|year=1908|access-date=8 June 2016|inline=1}}</ref>

==Early work==
Altieri received a doctorate in law from the [[Roman College]] in 1611. After finishing his studies, he was named ''auditor'' of Giovanni Battista Lancellotti in 1623, in the [[nuncio]] of [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]]. He was ordained on 6 April 1624. On his return to Rome, he was named [[Bishop of Camerino]], then governor of [[Loreto (AN)|Loreto]] and of all [[Umbria]]. [[Pope Urban VIII]] (1623–44) gave him charge of the works designed to protect the territory of [[Ravenna]] from the unruly [[Po River]].<ref name=Loughlin/>

[[Pope Innocent X]] (1644–55) sent him as nuncio to [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], where he remained for eight years. He is credited with the re-establishment of peace after the stormy days of [[Masaniello]].<ref name=Loughlin/> [[Pope Alexander VII]] (1655–67) confided to him a mission to Poland.

[[Pope Clement IX]] (1667–69) named him Superintendent of the Papal Exchequer (in charge of the Church's finances), and in 1667 his ''maestro di camera'', and he was made Secretary of the [[Congregation of Bishops and Regulars]].<ref name=Loughlin/> Just before his death, Clement IX made him a [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]]. He was then about seventy-nine years of age; and Clement IX, when making him a member of the [[College of Cardinals|Sacred College]], said to him: "You will be our successor."

After the funeral of Pope Clement IX, sixty-two electors entered into [[Papal conclave, 1669–1670|conclave]] on 20 December 1669. Forty-two votes were necessary, and due to the rivalry between the French and Spanish factions, heated discussion prevailed for four months. Cardinal [[Giannicolò Conti]] was supported by twenty-two votes; Cardinal [[Giacomo Rospigliosi]], nephew of the late pope, had thirty, or, as some say, thirty-three, with two at the ''accesso'', so that he needed only seven more votes to gain the [[papal tiara|tiara]]. Cardinal Carlo Cerri obtained twenty-three votes.

At length the cardinals agreed to resort to the old expedient of electing a cardinal of advanced years, and proposed Cardinal Altieri, almost an octogenarian, whose long life had been spent in the service of the [[Catholic Church]], and whom Clement IX, on the eve of his death, had raised to the dignity of the purple. The reason a [[prelate]] of such transcendent merits received the cardinalate so late in life seems to have been that he had waived his claims to the elevation in favour of an older brother.<ref name=Loughlin/>

==Pontificate==
{{main|1669–1670 papal conclave}}
On 29 April 1670, the papacy was offered to him by fifty-nine cardinals present at the election; only two being against him. He, however, objected because of his age, for he was almost eighty, and exclaimed, "I am too old to bear such a burden." Pointing to Cardinal [[Francesco Maria Brancaccio]], Altieri said he was the cardinal whom they ought to elect. He persisted in refusing, protesting that he no longer had strength or memory; eventually, with tears he accepted, and out of gratitude to his benefactor, by ten years his junior, he assumed the name of Clement X.<ref name=Loughlin/> He was [[papal coronation|crowned]] on 11 May.

[[File:Gianlorenzo bernini, busto di Clemente X 02.JPG|thumb|left|Bust of Pope Clement X by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]].]]
On 8 June Clement X took possession of the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]]. On 11 June, he confirmed the Minor [[Observantine]]s in the [[Holy Land]] in the privileges and indulgences granted to those who visit the holy places, according to the decrees of [[Alexander VII]] and [[Clement IX]]. In the same month, he granted to the prelate-clerks of the chamber the use of the violet-coloured band around their hats. Occasionally forgetful, he sometimes promised the same favors to different people and came to rely on his [[cardinal-nephew]], Cardinal [[Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mq7ctwMNdoC&pg=PA119 |page=119|title=Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes|isbn=9780786420711|last1=Williams|first1=George L.|date=2004-08-11|publisher=McFarland }}</ref>

All but one of the male scions of the Altieri family had chosen the ecclesiastical career. On his accession to the papacy, Clement X, in order to save the Altieri name from extinction, adopted the [[Paoluzzi]] family, and proposed that one of the Paluzzi should marry Laura Caterina Altieri, the sole heiress of the family. In exchange for adopting the Altieri surname, he would make one of the Paoluzzi a cardinal. Following the wedding, which he officiated, he appointed his niece's uncle-in-law Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri to the office of cardinal nephew to take on the duties which he was prevented from doing by age. The main activity was to invest the Church's money, and with advancing years gradually entrusted to him the management of affairs, to such an extent that the Romans said he had reserved to himself only the episcopal functions of ''benedicere et sanctificare'', resigning in favour of the cardinal the administrative duties of ''regere et gubernare''.<ref name=Loughlin/>

Clement X advised the Christian princes to love each other and to prove it by generous measures, and by a prudent and scrupulous conduct. It was especially between [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]] that the pope desired to witness a renewal of feelings of good understanding.

In 1671, the Pope published an edict by which he declared that ''a noble might be a merchant without loss of his nobility, provided always that he did not sell by retail''. In 1676, [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]] sculpted one of his final statues, a [[Statue of Clement X (Bernini)|bust of Clement X]].

===Canonizations and beatifications===
On 12 April 1671, Clement X canonised five new saints:
* [[Saint Gaetan of Thiene]], founder of the Clerks of Divine Providence, better known by their other title of [[Theatines]].
* [[Saint Francis Borgia]], fourth [[Duke of Gandia]], [[Marquisate of Lombay|Marquis of Lombay]], and viceroy of [[Catalonia]], born in 1510. He took the habit of the [[Jesuits]] in 1547, and became [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus|general]] and one of the most illustrious ornaments of that religious order.
* [[Saint Philip Benizi]], a noble [[Florence|Florentine]], a religious of the order of the [[Servants of Mary]], of which he was the reviver, and not, as has been stated by some, the founder. [[Pope Leo X]] (1513–21) had beatified him in 1516.
* [[Saint Louis Beltran]], or Bertrand, a Spaniard, of the family of [[Saint Vincent Ferrer]], and like him a [[Dominican order|Dominican]].
* [[Saint Rose of Lima]], of the third order of [[Saint Dominic]], born at [[Lima]], [[Peru]] in 1586. Saint Rose, beatified by [[Clement IX]], was the first American saint of the Americas.
* [[Ferdinand III of Castile|Fernando III]] called El Santo (the Saint), (1198/1199&nbsp;– 30 May 1252) was a king of Castile (1217–1252) and Leon (1230–1252). He was the son of [[Alfonso IX]] and [[Berengaria of Castile]], daughter of [[Alfonso VIII]]. In 1231 he united [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]] and [[Kingdom of León|León]] permanently.  Fernando was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671. Several places named ''[[San Fernando (disambiguation)|San Fernando]]'' were founded across the [[Spanish Empire]].

In 1673, he had [[Pope Leo III]]'s name entered in the [[Roman Martyrology]].<ref name="Baring-Gould1874">{{cite book|last=Baring-Gould|first=Sabine|title=The Lives of the Saints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hYZCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA156|access-date=24 April 2018|year=1874|publisher=J. Hodges|page=156}}</ref>

He [[beatification|beatified]] [[Pope Pius V]] (1566–72), [[Francis Solano]], and [[John of the Cross]], all subsequently [[canonized]] by Clement XI and [[Pope Benedict XIII]] (1724–30). Clement X also declared [[Venerable]] one of the famous [[Spanish mystics]], Sister [[María de Ágreda|María de Jesús de Ágreda]].

Clement X, on 24 November 1673, beatified nineteen [[Martyrs of Gorkum]], who had been taken prisoner at [[Gorinchem|Gorcum]], the [[Netherlands]], and put to death in [[Brielle]] on 9 July 1572, in hatred of the Catholic faith, of the primacy of the Pope, and of the Roman Church. Of the nineteen Gorcum martyrs, Peter Ascanius (''Peter of Assche'') and Cornelius Vican (''Cornelius van Wijk'') were laymen; eleven were [[Franciscan]] priests; one a Dominican, two [[Premonstratensian]]s, one a [[regular canon]] of [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], and four were secular  priests.

On 13 January 1672, Clement X regulated the formalities to be observed in removing the [[relic]]s of saints from sacred cemeteries. No one was to remove such relics without the permission of the [[cardinal-vicar]]. They were not to be exposed for the veneration of the faithful unless previously examined by the same cardinal. The principal relics of the martyr&nbsp;– that is to say, the head, the legs, the arms, and the part in which they suffered&nbsp;– were to be exposed only in the churches, and they were not to be given to private persons, but only to princes and high prelates; and even to them but rarely, lest the too great profusion should deprive relics of the respect which they ought to inspire. The Pope decreed severe penalties against all who gave a relic any name but that given by the cardinal-vicar. The pain of [[excommunication]] was pronounced against all who should demand any sum whatever for sealed and authentic relics. These decrees, and others made by preceding Popes were confirmed by [[Pope Clement XI]] (1700–21) in 1704.

Clement X confirmed the exemptions granted by [[Pope Gregory XIII]] (1572–85) to the [[German College at Rome]] in 1671; and then, on 16 October 1672, he ordered the pupils to swear that at the close of their studies they would set out for [[Germany]] without a day's delay.

===Foreign affairs===
Clement X, seeing the results of the apostolic labours of the early French missionaries in [[Canada (New France)|Canada]], the number of the faithful, and the wide field of labour, resolved to give the Church an independent organisation, and erected a [[episcopal see|''see'']] at [[Quebec]], the bishop to depend directly on the [[Holy See]]; this provision would later secure its permanence after Quebec passed into the hands of [[British Empire|Great Britain]]. The first bishop was [[Francois de Montmorency-Laval]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.archivesvirtuelles.com/letter.php?letterID=33| title = "Bull of Pope Clement X erecting into a diocese the Vicariate Apostolic of New France", Virtual Cathedral| date = 15 December 2008}}</ref>

In 1673, there arrived at Rome ambassadors from the Tsar of [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]], [[Alexis of Russia|Alexei]]. He solicited from the Pope the title of [[Tsar]], which, however, had already been adopted by his predecessors. At the same time it could not be forgotten that he gave strong financial aid to King [[John III Sobieski]] of [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]] in their fight against the [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] invaders. But [[Paul Menesius]], a Scotsman, who was the ambassador, could not obtain the grant or sanction of that title, though he was received with great magnificence and had many precious gifts to carry back to his master. The Russian Tsar did not profess the Catholic faith in such a manner as to give any assurance of his intentions, and the King of Poland had looked upon the embassy with displeasure.

Clement X suspended the [[Portuguese Inquisition]] in 3 October 1674, challenging the techniques employed against  the New Christians. The suspension lasted till 1681. <ref name=":0" />

===Local administration===
Meanwhile, Rome had reason to fear trouble. Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri, who was at the head of the government, determined to increase the revenues, and he established a new tax of three percent upon all merchandise entering the city, including even goods for cardinals and ambassadors. Although the government complained that ambassadors had abused their privilege, the diplomatic corps showed discontent that they were not expressly exempted in the new tax law.

Another edict confirmed the first and ordered the confiscation without distinction of all goods that did not pay the new tax. The cardinals at first complained, though with moderation. But the ambassadors didn't speak Clement X's language.

The Cardinal nephew maintained that Clement X, within his own State, might make what rules he pleased. Then the ambassadors of the [[Habsburg monarchy|Empire]], of [[Kingdom of France|France]], [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]], and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], sent their secretaries to demand an audience of the Pope. The chief chamberlain replied that the Pope was busy that day. And for four days in succession, the chamberlain gave the same answer to the same applicants. Clement X, learning at length what had occurred, declared that he had given no such order. The ambassadors then sent their secretaries to ask an audience of Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri. Not only did he refuse to admit them, but closed his doors and increased the guard at the pontifical palace, so that the offence could go no further. Subsequently, the Cardinal nephew wrote to the [[nuncio]]s who resided in the courts of Europe, stating that the excesses committed by the ambassadors had induced the pope to publish the edict. The ambassadors, on the contrary, assured their sovereigns that the accusation was a pretext.

The conflict lasted for more than a year; and Clement X, who loved peace, at length referred the matter to a congregation. Sometime after, Cardinal Paluzzi Altieri declared that he had not intended to comprise the ambassadors among those for whom the edict was intended, and that the pope had never contemplated subjecting them to it.

Queen [[Christina of Sweden]], who had become a Catholic and moved to Rome in December 1655, made Clement X prohibit the custom of chasing [[Jews]] through the streets during the [[carnival]]. In 1686 she issued a declaration that Roman Jews stood under her protection, signed ''la Regina''&nbsp;– the queen.<ref>Elisabeth Aasen: ''Barokke damer'', edited by Pax, Oslo 2003, {{ISBN|82-530-2817-2}}</ref>

===Jubilee===
In 1675 Clement X celebrated the fourteenth [[Jubilee (Christianity)|jubilee]] of the holy year. Notwithstanding his age, he visited the churches, regretting that the [[gout]] prevented him from making that holy visit more than five times. He went twelve times to Trinity hospital to wash the feet of the pilgrims, and after the ceremony gave them liberal alms. A commemorated silver piastra was issued on the occasion of the Holy Year.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/silver-piastra-of-pope-clement-x/RAE0iyaQLN8nwA?hl=en| title = "Silver piastra of Pope Clement X", British Museum}}</ref>

===Cardinals===
{{main|Cardinals created by Clement X}}
Clement X created 20 cardinals in six consistories including [[Pope Benedict XIII|Pietro Francesco Orsini]], who would become Pope Benedict XIII several decades later.

==Death==
[[Image:ClementeX.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[Tomb of Clement X]], St. Peter's Basilica, designed by [[Mattia de' Rossi]]]]
On 22 July 1676, the agonies of the gout became so violent that Clement X died under them that afternoon. He was eighty-six years old and had governed the Church six years, two months, and twenty-four days. His tomb is in [[St. Peter's Basilica]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://stpetersbasilica.info/Monuments/ClementX/ClementX.htm| title = "Monument to Clement X", ''St. Peter's Basilica - A Virtual Tour'', Our Sunday Visitor}}</ref>

==Other accomplishments==
He laboured to preserve the peace of Europe even though he was menaced by the ambition of [[Louis XIV of France]] (1643–1715), an imperious monarch over ecclesiastical matters (the struggle concerned the ''régale'', or revenues of vacant [[diocese]]s and [[abbey]]s, which resulted in continued tension with France). He decorated the [[Ponte Sant'Angelo]] with the ten statues of angels in [[Carrara marble]] still to be seen there.<ref name=Loughlin/>

Pope Clement X had the two fountains located in [[St. Peter's Square]] built near the tribune, where a monument has been erected to his memory.<ref name=Loughlin/> During his papacy, the [[Palazzo Altieri]] in central Rome was refurbished.

Clement X appointed [[Francesco Lorenzo Brancati di Lauria]] head of the [[Vatican Library]].

==See also==

* [[Cardinals created by Clement X]]

==References==
{{commons category|Clemens X}}
{{wikisource author}}
<References />
*{{cite web|url=http://roma.katolsk.no/agneseagone.htm|title=Churches of Rome: S Agnese in Agone|work=roma.katolsk.no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213021844/http://roma.katolsk.no/agneseagone.htm|archive-date=13 February 2006|date=2000|last=Nyborg|first=Chris|url-status=dead}} (source of the interment information)

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Clement IX|Clement IX]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=29 April 1670&nbsp;– 22 July 1676}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Innocent XI|Innocent XI]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement 10}}
[[Category:Pope Clement X]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Clergy from Rome]]
[[Category:Diplomats of the Holy See]]
[[Category:1590 births]]
[[Category:1676 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century popes]]
[[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Urban VIII]]
[[Category:Diplomats from Rome]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]