Born
13 March 1615
Birthplace
Spinazzola, near Naples, Italy
Pope from
12 July 1691
Pope until
27 September 1700
Died
27 September 1700
Who he was
Entering the Curia at twenty, he served as Inquisitor of Malta and as nuncio in Tuscany, Poland and Vienna. Innocent XI made him a cardinal, Bishop of Faenza and then Archbishop of Naples. He was elected as a compromise after a conclave of five months.
What he is remembered for
In 1692 he forbade any pope to make more than one relative a cardinal, a rule the cardinals swore to keep, and he called the poor his nephews. He opened part of the Lateran as a hospital for the needy and finished the law-courts building that now houses the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He reconciled the French bishops of 1682 with Rome and condemned propositions from Fénelon's Maxims in 1699.
Sources
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