
The son of the Duke of Poli, of the family that had given the Church Innocent III, he studied at the Roman College and served as nuncio in Lucerne and Lisbon. Clement XI made him a cardinal and Bishop of Osimo and then Viterbo, a see he gave up through illness. He was elected after a stormy conclave and reigned less than three years.
He invested the Emperor Charles VI with Sicily, supported the exiled Stuart claimant James III, and helped Venice and Malta against the Turks. He insisted that the French bishops accept Unigenitus without conditions. He kept his family's gains strictly within the limits set by Innocent XII.
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