Everything about Pope Alexander Viii totally explained
» For the cardinal with the same name, see Pietro Ottoboni (cardinal)
Pope Alexander VIII (
April 22 1610 –
February 1 1691), born
Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was
Pope from 1689 to 1691.
Early life
Pietro Ottoboni was born of a noble
Venetian family, and was the son of Marco Ottoboni, chancellor of the
Republic of Venice. His early studies were made with marked brilliancy at the
University of Padua, where, in 1627, he earned a doctorate in
canon and civil law.
Governor of Terni, Rieti and Spoleto
He went to Rome during the pontificate of
Pope Urban VIII (1623–44), and was made governor of
Terni,
Rieti, and
Spoleto. For fourteen years he served as auditor of the
Rota. At the request of the Venetian Republic, Ottoboni was made Cardinal by
Pope Innocent X (1644–55) in 1652, and was later given the
bishopric of Brescia, in Venetian territory, where he quietly spent the best years of middle life.
Pontificate
The ambassador of
Louis XIV of France (1643–1715) succeeded in procuring his election on
October 6,
1689 as successor to
Pope Innocent XI (1676–89); nevertheless, after months of negotiation Alexander VIII finally condemned the
declaration made in 1682 by the French clergy concerning the liberties of the
Gallican church.
Alexander VIII was already an octogenarian when elected to the papacy, and lived but sixteen months, during which time little of importance was done. Louis XIV, whose political situation was now critical, profited by the peaceful dispositions of the new pope, restored to him
Avignon, and renounced the long-abused
right of asylum for the French Embassy.
Financial controversies
Charities on a large scale and unbounded nepotism (among the various nominations, his 22-year-old nephew Pietro was made cardinal, nephew Marco Duc of Fiano and nephew Antonio Church general) exhausted the papal treasury, reversing the policies of his predecessor. Out of compassion for the poor of the impoverished
Papal States, he sought to help them by reducing taxes. But this same generous nature led him to bestow on his relations the riches they were eager to accumulate; on their behalf, and to the discredit of his pontificate, he revived
sinecure offices which had been suppressed by Innocent XI. He bought the books and manuscripts of Queen
Christina of Sweden for the
Vatican Library. Alexander VIII assisted his native Venice by generous subsidies in the war against the
Turks, as well as sending seven
galleys and 2,000 infantry for the campaign in
Albania.
In 1690 he condemned the doctrines of the so-called
philosophical sin, taught in the
Jesuit schools. That year he also canonised St
John of God.
Alexander VIII died on
February 1 1691. His tomb in
St. Peter's was designed by Count
Arrigo di San Martino and sculpted (1691-1725) by
Angelo de' Rossi and
Giuseppe Bertosi.
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