Born
6 May 1574
Birthplace
Rome, Italy
Pope from
15 September 1644
Pope until
7 January 1655
Died
7 January 1655
Who he was
A Roman lawyer, he served as auditor of the Rota, nuncio at Naples and Madrid, and titular Patriarch of Antioch before becoming a cardinal. He was elected after a stormy conclave as a compromise between the French and Spanish parties. He was upright in life but often hesitant, and leaned heavily on his widowed sister-in-law, Olimpia Maidalchini.
What he is remembered for
He condemned five propositions from the Augustinus of Jansenius in 1653, which opened the long Jansenist dispute in France. He protested against the parts of the Peace of Westphalia that harmed the Church, and called the Barberini family to account for public money spent under his predecessor.
Sources
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