Editing Pope Innocent XII

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{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1691 to 1700}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Innocent XII
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| image = Antonio Zanchi – Papa Innocenzo XII.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Antonio Zanchi]], {{circa|1691-99}}
| coat_of_arms = C o a Inocentius XII.svg
| birth_name = Antonio Pignatelli
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 12 July 1691
| term_end = 27 September 1700
| predecessor = [[Alexander VIII]]
| successor = [[Clement XI]]
| ordination = {{circa}} 1643
| ordained_by = 
| consecration = 27 October 1652
| consecrated_by = [[Marcantonio Franciotti]]
| cardinal = 1 September 1681
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Innocent XI|Innocent XI]]
| previous_post = {{Indented plainlist|
* Titular Archbishop of Larissa (1652–1671)
* [[Apostolic Nuncio to Poland]] (1660–1668)
* Apostolic Nuncio to Austria (1668–1671)
* [[Bishop of Lecce|Archbishop-Bishop of Lecce]] (1671–1681)
* [[Bishop of Faenza|Archbishop-Bishop of Faenza]] (1682–1686)
* [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples|Archbishop of Naples]] (1686–1691)
* Cardinal-Priest of [[San Pancrazio]] (1681–1691)
}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1615|3|13}}
| birth_place = [[Spinazzola]], [[Kingdom of Naples]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1700|9|27|1615|3|13}}
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| other = Innocent
| buried = [[Vatican Grottoes]], [[St. Peter's Basilica]]
}}

{{Infobox popestyles
|image            = File: C o a Inocentius XII.svg
|dipstyle         = [[His Holiness]]
|offstyle         = Your Holiness
|relstyle         = Holy Father
|deathstyle       = None
}}

'''Pope Innocent XII''' ({{langx|la|Innocentius XII}}; {{langx|it|Innocenzo XII}}; 13 March 1615&nbsp;– 27 September 1700), born '''Antonio Pignatelli''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700.

He took a hard stance against [[nepotism]] in the Church, continuing the policies of [[Pope Innocent XI]], who started the battle against nepotism but which did not gain traction under [[Pope Alexander VIII]]. To that end, he issued a [[papal bull]] strictly forbidding it. The pope also used this bull to ensure that no revenue or land could be bestowed on relatives.

==Biography==
===Early life===
Antonio Pignatelli was born on 13 March 1615 in [[Spinazzola]]<ref name=Ott>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08022a.htm Ott, Michael. "Pope Innocent XII." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 4 February 2019</ref> (now in [[Apulia]]) to one of the most aristocratic families of the [[Kingdom of Naples]], which had included several Viceroys and ministers of the crown. He was the fourth of five children of Francesco [[House of Pignatelli|Pignatelli]], 4th Marquess of Spinazzola, and wife Porzia [[House of Carafa|Carafa]], 1st Princess of Minervino. His siblings were Marzio, Ludovico, Fabrizio and Paola Maria. His mother was related to [[Pope Paul IV]].

He was educated at the [[Collegio Romano]] in [[Rome]] where he earned a [[doctorate]] in both [[Canon law|canon]] and civil law.

===Diplomatic career===
At the age of 20 he became an official of the [[Roman Curia|court]] of [[Pope Urban VIII]]. Pignatelli was the Referendary of the [[Apostolic Signatura]] and served as the governor of [[Fano]] and [[Viterbo]]. Later he went to [[Malta]] where he served as an [[inquisitor]] from 1646 to 1649,<ref name=miranda>{{cite web| url = http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1681.htm#Pignatelli| title = Miranda, Salvador. "Antonio Pignatelli", Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Florida International University| access-date = 2012-08-09| archive-date = 2018-02-13| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180213203912/http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1681.htm#Pignatelli| url-status = dead}}</ref> and then governor of [[Perugia]]. Shortly after this, he received his priestly ordination.

===Episcopate and cardinalate===
[[Image:PIGNATELLI ANTONIO.jpg|165px|thumb|left|Cardinal Antonio Pignatelli]]
Pignatelli was made Titular [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Larissa|Archbishop of Larissa]] in 1652 and received [[episcopal consecration]] in Rome. He served as the [[Apostolic Nuncio to Poland]] from 1660 to 1668 and later to [[Apostolic Nunciature to Austria|Austria]] from 1668 to 1671.<ref name=Ott/> He was transferred to [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lecce|Lecce]] in 1671. [[Pope Innocent XI]] appointed him as the Cardinal-Priest of [[San Pancrazio]] in 1681 and then moved him to the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Faenza|see of Faenza]] in 1682. He was moved to his final post before the papacy, as [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples|Archbishop of Naples]] in 1686.

==Papacy==
===Papal election===
{{main|Papal conclave, 1691}}
[[File:Médaille annuelle en or du Vatican à l'effigie du Pape Innocent XII, 1695.jpg|thumb|left|Innocent XII, 1695.]]
[[Pope Alexander VIII]] died in 1691 and the [[College of Cardinals]] assembled to hold a [[Papal conclave|conclave]] to select his successor. Factions loyal to the [[Kingdom of France]], [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] and the broader [[Holy Roman Empire]] failed to agree on a [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]] [[candidate]].

After five months, Cardinal Pignatelli emerged as a compromise candidate between the cardinals of France and those of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly after Cardinal [[Gregorio Barbarigo]] was no longer considered a viable candidate for the papacy.<ref name=miranda/> Having received 53 out of 61 votes, Pignatelli took his new name in honour of [[Pope Innocent XI]] and was crowned on 15 July 1691 by the [[protodeacon]], Cardinal Urbano Sacchetti. He took possession of the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]] on 13 April 1692.

===Actions===
Immediately after his election on 12 July 1691, Innocent XII declared his opposition to the [[nepotism]] which had afflicted the reigns of previous popes. The following year he issued the [[papal bull]], ''[[Romanum decet Pontificem]]'', banning the [[curia]]l office of the [[Cardinal-Nephew]] and prohibiting popes from bestowing [[Estate (land)|estates]], offices, or [[revenue]]s on any relative. Further, only one relative (and only "if otherwise suitable") was to be raised to the cardinalate.<ref name=Ott/>

At the same time he sought to check the [[simony]] in the practices of the [[Apostolic Chamber]] and to that end introduced a simpler and more economical manner of life into his court. Innocent XII said that "the poor were his nephews" and compared his public beneficence to the nepotism of many predecessors.

That same year he invited [[Marcello Malpighi]] to Rome to serve as his personal physician and offered him the position of Professor of Medicine at the [[Sapienza University of Rome]]. Malpighi introduced his Roman colleagues to the use of the [[microscope]].<ref>{{cite journal| url = https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)31210-7/fulltext| title = Riva, Michele Augusto et al. "The first recorded use of microscopy in medicine: Pope Innocent XII's autopsy report", ''The Lancet'', August 6, 2016| journal = The Lancet| date = August 2016| volume = 388| issue = 10044| page = 559| doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31210-7| last1 = Riva| first1 = Michele Augusto| last2 = Borghi| first2 = Luca| last3 = Pagni| first3 = Fabio| pmid = 27511777| hdl = 10281/128960| hdl-access = free}}</ref>  

Innocent XII also introduced various reforms into the States of the Church including the ''Forum Innocentianum'', designed to improve the administration of justice dispensed by the Church. In 1693 he compelled French bishops to retract the four propositions relating to the [[Gallican Liberties]] which had been formulated by the assembly of 1682.

In 1699, he decided in favour of [[Jacques-Benigne Bossuet]] in that prelate's controversy with [[Fénelon]] about the ''Explication des Maximes des Saints sur la Vie Intérieure'' of the latter. Innocent XII's pontificate also differed greatly from his predecessors' because of his leanings towards France instead of the [[Habsburg monarchy]]; the first in the 20 years following France's failure to have its candidate elected in [[papal conclave, 1644|1644]] and [[papal conclave, 1655|1655]].

====Consistories====
{{main|Cardinals created by Innocent XII}}
Innocent XII created 30 cardinals in four consistories; two of those he elevated were those he reserved ''[[in pectore]]''.

====Canonizations and beatifications====
Innocent XII canonized Saint [[Zita of Lucca]] on 5 September 1696. He beatified [[Augustin Kažotić]] on 17 July 1700 and approved the [[cult (religious practice)|cultus]] of [[Angela of Foligno]] in 1693. He also beatified [[Osanna Andreasi]] on 24 November 1694, [[Mary de Cervellione]] on 13 February 1692, [[Joanna, Princess of Portugal|Jane of Portugal]] on 31 December 1692, [[Umiliana de' Cerchi]] on 24 July 1694, [[Helen Enselmini]] on 29 October 1695, and [[Delphine of Glandèves]] in 1694.

===Death===
[[Image:Pope Innocent XII Tomb.jpg|thumb|165px|right|The tomb and monument to Innocent XII in Saint Peter's Basilica.]]
Innocent XII was already considerably ill on 25 December 1699 with [[gout]] (a rheumatic disease) and was therefore unable to attend the solemn opening of the Holy Door at [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] to mark the beginning of the [[Jubilee in the Catholic Church|Jubilee]] for 1700, hence, Cardinal [[Cardinal de Bouillon|Emmanuel-Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne]] represented the pontiff in the solemn celebration. On [[Easter Sunday]] in 1700, the seriously ill pontiff gave a blessing from his balcony to the large crowds outside of the [[Quirinal Palace]]. Despite his illness, he named three new cardinals in June 1700.

Innocent died on 27 September 1700 and was succeeded in the [[1700 papal conclave|next conclave]] by [[Pope Clement XI]] (1700–21). His tomb in Saint Peter's Basilica was sculpted by [[Filippo della Valle]]. Innocent is the most recent pope to not be clean shaven.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9889139/Why-we-wont-get-a-bearded-pope.html |title = Why we won't get a bearded pope|date = 2013-02-22|last1 = Howse|first1 = Christopher}}</ref>

==In fiction==
Innocent appears as one of the narrators in [[Robert Browning]]'s long poem ''[[The Ring and the Book]]'' (1869), based on the true story of the pope's intervention in a historical murder trial in Rome during his papacy.

==See also==
* [[Cardinals created by Innocent XII]]
* [[Papal conclave, 1691]]
* [[Papal conclave, 1700]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Ago, R. (1994), "La carriera curiale di Antonio Pignatelli," in: ''Riforme, religione e politica durante il pontificato di Innocenzo XII (1691-1700)'', pp.&nbsp;23–30.
* Ago, Renata (2000), "Innocenzo XII," ''Enciclopedia dei Papi'' (Treccani: 2000). {{in lang|it}}
* Pastor, Ludwig (1891). ''The history of the popes from the close of the Middle Ages'' [https://archive.org/details/historyofpopesfr32past/page/n8 Volume 32]. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner.
* Pellegrino, B. (ed.). ''Riforme, religione e politica durante il pontificato di Innocenzo XII (1691-1700)'' Lecce 1994. {{in lang|it}} [collection of studies]
* Spedicato, M. (1994), "L'episcopato di Antonio Pignatelli a Lecce (1671-82): un governo pastorale a distanza?," in: ''Riforme, religione e politica'', pp.&nbsp;31–44. {{in lang|it}}

==Sources==
* {{catholic|title=Pope Innocent XII}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Innocent}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Pietro Vidoni]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[San Pancrazio|Cardinal-Priest of San Pancrazio]]|years=1681&nbsp;– 1691}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bandino Panciatichi]]}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Innico Caracciolo (born 1607)|Innico Caracciolo]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples|Archbishop of Naples]]|years=1686&nbsp;– 1691}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Giacomo Cantelmo]]}}

{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Alexander VIII|Alexander VIII]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=12 July 1691&nbsp;– 27 September 1700}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Clement XI|Clement XI]]}}

{{s-end}}

{{commons category|Innocentius XII}}
{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innocent 12}}

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