| Papal conclave August–September 1676 | |
|---|---|
| Dates and location | |
| 2 August – 21 September 1676 Apostolic Palace, Papal States | |
| Elected pope | |
| Benedetto Odescalchi Name taken: Innocent XI | |
 | |
The 1676 papal conclave was convened after the death of Pope Clement X and lasted from 2 August until 21 September 1676. It led to the election of Cardinal Benedetto Odescalchi as Pope Innocent XI. [1]
After the death of Pope Clement X on 22 July 1676, the College of Cardinals convened in Rome to elect a successor. The college consisted of 67 members: 44 of them took part at the opening of the conclave, and the number rose to 63 when others finally arrived from abroad. [2] Seven of these cardinals had been created by Urban VIII, twelve by Innocent X, eight by Alexander VII, and nineteen by Clement IX and Clement X. Absent cardinals included Friedrich of Hessen and Pascal of Aragon.
A list was already in circulation indicating possible papal candidates. Only Cardinal Benedetto Odescalchi was suitably "papabile" at the time of the conclave. Odescalchi had emerged as a strong candidate for the papacy after the earlier death of Pope Clement IX on 9 December 1669, but the French Government had vetoed his nomination. After the death of Clement X, King Louis XIV of France had again intended to use his royal influence against the election of Odescalchi, whom he viewed as sympathetic to Spain. But, seeing that his popularity had grown among the cardinals as well as the Roman people, he reluctantly instructed the cardinals of the French party to acquiesce in his candidacy.
On the 1st ballot, held on 3 August 1676, Odescalchi received 14 votes. 13 other candidates remained in the running, with 25 abstentions. The number of candidates sank, but the vote on 20 September gave only 8 votes to Odescalchi. 19 votes were spread among cardinals Barberini, Rospigliosi and Alberizzi, while 30 cardinals abstained.
Finally on 21 September, Odescalchi was surrounded in the chapel of the conclave and proclaimed pope by acclamation, rather than formal vote, [3] each cardinal kissing his hand. Once pope-elect, Innocent XI made the College swear to the Conclave capitulation that had been drafted by the previous conclave before accepting his election, in an attempt to avoid any limits to the papal supremacy. Innocent was then formally enthroned as pope on 4 October 1676. Cardinals Virginio Orsini and Carlo Bonelli both died during the conclave.
Pope Gregory X, born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was elected at the conclusion of a papal election that ran from 1268 to 1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church.
Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 until his death in 12 August 1689.
The House of Erba-Odescalchi and the House of Odescalchi are branches of an Italian noble family formed by the union of the Erba and Odescalchi families. The Odescalchi family was, since the election of Benedetto Odescalchi as Pope Innocent XI in 1676, part of the highest Roman aristocracy.
Jus exclusivae was the right claimed by several Catholic monarchs of Europe to veto a candidate for the papacy. Although never formally recognized by the Catholic Church, the monarchs of France, Spain and Austria claimed this right at various times, making known to a papal conclave, through a crown-cardinal, that the monarch deemed a particular candidate for the papacy objectionable.
A cardinal-nephew was a cardinal elevated by a pope who was that cardinal's relative. The practice of creating cardinal-nephews originated in the Middle Ages, and reached its apex during the 16th and 17th centuries. The last cardinal-nephew was named in 1689 and the practice was abolished in 1692. The word nepotism originally referred specifically to this practice, when it appeared in the English language about 1669. From the middle of the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) until Pope Innocent XII's anti-nepotism bull, Romanum decet pontificem (1692), a pope without a cardinal-nephew was the exception to the rule. Every Renaissance pope who created cardinals appointed a relative to the College of Cardinals, and the nephew was the most common choice, although one of Alexander VI's creations was his own son.
Livio Odescalchi, Duke of Bracciano, Ceri and Sirmium, was an Italian nobleman of the Odescalchi family.
The 1667 papal conclave was convened on the death of Pope Alexander VII and ended with the election of Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi as Pope Clement IX. The conclave was dominated by factions loyal to the cardinal nephews of Alexander VII and Urban VIII. It saw the continued existence of the Squadrone Volante, or Flying Squadron, that had emerged in the 1655 conclave. The conclave also saw Spain and France, the two largest Catholic powers at the time, both support Rospigliosi's election as pope. Ultimately, Rospigliosi's election was achieved when the French ambassador bribed Flavio Chigi, Alexander's nephew, to support Rospigliosi. Following the conclave all the parties believed they had elected the pope that they had wanted.
The 1721 papal conclave, convoked after the death of Pope Clement XI, elected Cardinal Michelangelo de' Conti, who took the name of Innocent XIII.
The 1669–70 papal conclave was convened on the death of Pope Clement IX and ended with the election of Cardinal Emilio Altieri as Pope Clement X. The election saw deference within the College of Cardinals to Louis XIV of France, and a freeing of the cardinals loyal to Spain to vote according to their conscience. Eventually the elderly Altieri was elected with support of the major factions within the College.
The papal conclave held from 1 May 1314 to 7 August 1316 in the apostolic palace of Carpentras and then the Dominican house in Lyon was one of the longest conclaves in the history of the Roman Catholic Church and the first conclave of the Avignon Papacy. The length of the conclave was due to the division of the cardinals into three factions: Italian, Gascon, and French/Provençal.
The 1655 papal conclave was convened following the death of Pope Innocent X and ended with the election of Cardinal Fabio Chigi as Alexander VII. The conclave quickly reached a deadlock, with Giulio Cesare Sacchetti receiving 33 votes throughout the conclave, but never securing enough for his own election. After several months of deliberation and negotiation, Chigi was elected Pope when Cardinal Mazarin, the leader of the French government, consented to Chigi's election at the request of Sacchetti.
The 1689 papal conclave was convened after the death of Pope Innocent XI. It led to the election of Cardinal Pietro Vito Ottoboni as Pope Alexander VIII. The conclave saw previous factions join together because they lacked numerical strength, and saw the rise of the zelanti as a political force in the election of the next pope. Ottoboni was eventually unanimously elected with the consent of the secular monarchs, becoming the first Venetian in over 200 years to be elected pope.
Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and Cardinal-Nephew to Pope Clement X.
The 1700 papal conclave was convened following the death of Pope Innocent XII. It ended in the election of Cardinal Giovanni Albani as Pope Clement XI. The conclave saw a rise in the dominance of the zelanti faction College of Cardinals. It remained deadlocked for a month until the death of the childless Charles II of Spain. The cardinal electors anticipated that his death without a clear heir would cause a political crisis, and moved to elect a pope that was seen as non-partisan.
The 1691 papal conclave was convened on the death of Pope Alexander VIII and ended with the election of Cardinal Antonio Pignatelli as Pope Innocent XII. It lasted for five months, from 12 February to 12 July 1691. The conclave became deadlocked after Catholic monarchs opposed the election of Gregorio Barbarigo, who some members of the College of Cardinals also viewed as too strict. The conclave only ended in July when cardinals started to become ill from the heat, and after French cardinals agreed to vote for Pignatelli despite him coming from Spanish-controlled Naples.
The 1724 papal conclave was called upon the death of Pope Innocent XIII. It began on 20 March 1724 and ended on 28 May that year with the election of Cardinal Vincenzo Maria Orsini, a Dominican friar, as Pope Benedict XIII. The conclave was made of largely the same electors that had elected Innocent in 1721, and the same factions dominated it. Multiple attempts were made to elect candidates acceptable to the various Catholic monarchies at the time, but none were successful until May. Benedict resisted his election for two days before being convinced to accept it.
The March–April 1605 papal conclave was convened on the death of Pope Clement VIII and ended with the election of Cardinal Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici as Pope Leo XI. It was the first of two papal conclaves in 1605; Leo died on 27 April 1605, twenty-six days after he was elected. The conclave was dominated by conflict over whether Cesare Baronius should be elected pope, and Philip III of Spain excluded both Baronius and the eventually successful candidate, Medici.
Benedetto II Erba Odescalchi (1679–1740) was an Italian Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan from 1712 to 1736.
The papal conclave of March–April 1605 was convened on the death of Pope Clement VIII and ended with the election of Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici as Pope Leo XI on 1 April 1605. It was the first of two papal conclaves in 1605, with Leo dying on 27 April 1605, twenty-six days after he was elected, and the conclave to elect his successor being held in May. The conclave saw conflict regarding whether Cesare Baronius should be elected pope, and Philip III of Spain, the Spanish king, excluded both Baronius and the eventually successful candidate, Medici. Philip's exclusion of Medici was announced by Cardinal Ávila after his election to the papacy, and the other cardinals did not view it as valid since Medici had already been elected pope.
The papal conclave of May 1605 was convened on the death of Pope Leo XI and ended with the election of Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V on 16 May 1605. It was the second of two papal conclaves in 1605, with Leo dying on 27 April 1605, twenty-six days after he was elected in the March–April 1605 papal conclave.
