Everything about Pope Innocent Xi totally explained
Pope Innocent XI (
May 16 1611 –
August 12 1689), born
Benedetto Odescalchi, was
Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church from 1676 to 1689.
Early life
He was born at
Como in 1611, and was educated there by the
Jesuits. He studied law at
Rome and
Naples, held successively the offices of
protonotary apostolic, president of the apostolic chamber, commissary of the Marco di Roma, and governor of
Macerata; in 1647,
Pope Innocent X (1644–55) made him
Cardinal Deacon with the title of
Santi Cosma e Damiano. He afterwards became
legate to
Ferrara. When he was sent to Ferrara in order to assist the people stricken with a severe famine, the Pope introduced him to the people of Ferrara as the "father of the poor." In 1650, Odescalchi became
bishop of Novara, in which capacity he spent all the revenues of his
see to relieve the poor and sick in his
diocese. With the permission of the pope he resigned as bishop of Novara in favour of his brother Giulio in 1656 and went to Rome. While there he took a prominent part in the consultations of the various congregations of which he was a member. In all these capacities, the simplicity and purity of character which he displayed combined with his unselfish and openhanded benevolence to secure for him a high place in the popular affection and esteem.
Papacy
Election
Odescalchi was a strong papal candidate after the death of
Pope Clement IX (1667–69) in 1669, but the
French government rejected him. After
Pope Clement X (1670–76) died,
Louis XIV of France (1643–1715) again intended to use his royal influence against Odescalchi's election. Instead, believing the cardinals as well as the Roman people were of one mind in their desire to have Odescalchi as their Pope, Louis reluctantly instructed the French party cardinals to acquiesce in his candidacy. On
September 21 1676, he was chosen Clement X's successor and took the name of Innocent XI.
Reforming the Vatican administration
Immediately upon his accession, Innocent XI turned all his efforts towards reducing the expenses of the
Curia. He passed strict ordinances against
nepotism among the cardinals. He lived very parsimoniously and exhorted the cardinals to do the same. In this manner he not only squared the annual deficit which at his accession had reached the sum of 170,000
scudi, but within a few years the papal income was even in excess of the expenditures. He lost no time in declaring and practically manifesting his zeal as a reformer of manners and a corrector of administrative abuses. Beginning with the clergy, he sought to raise the
laity also to a higher moral standard of living. In 1679 he publicly condemned sixty-five propositions, taken chiefly from the writings of
Escobar,
Suarez and other
casuists (mostly
Jesuit casuists, who had been heavily attacked by
Pascal in his
Provincial Letters) as
propositiones laxorum moralistarum and forbade anyone to teach them under penalty of excommunication.
It was due to Innocent XI's earnest and incessant exhortations that the German Estates and King
John III of Poland (1674–96) in 1683 hastened to the relief of
Vienna which was being besieged by the
Turks. After the siege was raised, Innocent XI again spared no efforts to induce the Christian princes to lend a helping hand for the expulsion of the Turks from
Hungary. He contributed millions of scudi to the Turkish war fund in
Austria and
Hungary and had the satisfaction of surviving the capture of
Belgrade,
September 6 1688.
[
]Relations with France
The whole pontificate of Innocent XI is marked by a continuous struggle with the absolutism of Louis XIV. As early as 1673, the King had by his own power extended the right of the régale over the provinces of Languedoc, Guyenne, Provence, and Dauphiné, where it had previously not been exercised. All the efforts of Innocent XI to induce Louis XIV to respect the rights of the Church were useless. In 1682, the King convoked an assembly of the French clergy which adopted the four famous articles, which became known as the Gallican Liberties. Innocent XI annulled the four articles on April 11 1682, and refused his approbation to all future episcopal candidates who had taken part in the assembly.[
To appease the Pope, Louis XIV began to act as a zealot of Catholicism. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and inaugurated a cruel persecution of the Protestants. Innocent XI expressed his displeasure at these drastic measures and continued to withhold his approbation from the episcopal candidates. He irritated the King still more that same year by abolishing the much abused right of asylum, by which the foreign ambassadors at Rome had been able to harbor in their embassies any criminal who was wanted by the papal court of justice. Innocent XI notified the new French ambassador, Marquis de Lavardin, that he wouldn't be recognized as ambassador in Rome unless he renounced this right, but Louis XIV wouldn't give it up. At the head of an armed force of about 800 men Lavardin entered Rome in November 1687, and took forcible possession of his palace. Innocent XI treated him as excommunicated and placed under interdict the Church of St. Louis at Rome where he attended services on December 24 1687.][
]Cologne controversy
The tension between the Pope and the King of France was still increased by the Innocent XI's procedure in filling the vacant archiepiscopal see of Cologne. The two candidates for the see were Cardinal William Egon of Fürstenberg, then Bishop of Strasbourg, and Joseph Clement, a brother of Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. The former was a willing tool in the hands of Louis XIV, and his appointment as Archbishop and Prince-elector of Cologne would have implied French preponderance in north-western Germany. Joseph Clement wasn't only the candidate of Emperor Leopold I of Austria (1658–1705) but of all European rulers, with the exception of the King of France and his supporter, King James II of England (1685–88). At the election, which took place on July 19 1688, neither of the candidates received the required number of votes. The decision, therefore, fell to Innocent XI, who designated Joseph Clement as Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. Louis XIV retaliated by taking possession of the papal territory of Avignon, imprisoning the papal nuncio and appealing to a general council. Nor did he conceal his intention to separate the French Church entirely from Rome. The Pope remained firm. The subsequent fall of James II in England destroyed French preponderance in Europe and soon after Innocent XI's death (1689) the struggle between Louis XIV and the papacy was settled in favour of the Church.[
]Death and beatification
Innocent XI died after a long period of ill health on August 12, 1689.
The case for his canonization was introduced in 1714 but the influence of France forced it to be suspended in 1744. In the 20th century it was reintroduced, and Pope Pius XII (1939–58) announced his beatification on October 7 1956.
The feast day of Pope Innocent XI is August 12.
The first incorrupt body of a Pope?
Innocent XI, when exhumed from his tomb for beatification, was reportedly surprisingly well preserved. Today his body lies with the bodies of Pope St Pius X (1903–14) and Bl Pope John XXIII (1958–63) at the Vatican. The face and hands are lined with silver coating. His monument (1697-1704) in Saint Peter's was designed and sculpted by Pietro Stefano Monnot.
Writings about Pope Innocent XI
Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti, in their novel Imprimatur (2002), cast a different and more controversial light on that Pope, building a case against his canonization. They depict a selfish politician, betraying the Roman Catholic Church's interests in the hope of recovering a personal debt. Although the book doesn't pretend to be of scholarly value, an appendix of various notes and documents spanning about forty pages at the end of the text allows a critical review of the authors' researches.
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