INNOCENT
23
INNOCENT
nor the Spanish-Hapsburg faction among the cardi-
nals could carry its candidate. A compromise re-
sulted in the election of Cardinal PignatelU on 12 July,
1691. In his Bull "Romanum decet Pontificem" (22
June, 1692), which was subscribed and sworn to by the
cardinals, he decreed that in the future no pope should
Monument of Innocent XII
St. Peter's, Rome
be permitted to bestow the cardinalate on more than one of his kinsmen. Towards the poor, whom he called his nephews, he was extremely charitable; he turned part of the Lateran into a hospital for the needy, erected numerous charitable and educational institutions, and completed the large court-house "Curia lunocenziana", which now serves as the Ital- ian House of Commons (Camera dei Deputati). In l(i9:S he induced Kng Louis XIV of France to repeal the "Declaration of the French Clergy ", which had been adopted in 16S2. The Ijishops who had taken part in the " Declaration " sent a written recantation to Rome, whereupon the pope sent his Bull of confirma- tion to those bishops from whom it had been withlield. In 1696 he repeated his predecessor's condemnation of Jansenism and in his Brief "Cum alias" (12 March, 1699) he condemned twenty-three semi-Quietistic propositions contained in Fenelon's "Maximes". Towards the end of his pontificate his relations with Emperor Leopold I became somewhat strained, owing especially to Count Martinitz, the imperial ambassa- dor at Rome, who still insisted on the " right of asy- lum", which had been abolished by Innocent XI. It was greatly due to the arrogance of Martinitz that Innocent XII advised King Charles II of Spain to make a Frenchman, the Duke of .\njou, his testamen- tary successor, an act which led to the "War of the Spanish Succession ".
Bultarium Innocentii XII (Rome, 1697): Ranke, Die n',- mischen Piipste. tr. Foster, History of the Popes, II {London. 1906), 425-7: Klopp, Hat der Papsl Innocenz Xllim Jahre 1700 dem Kimige Karl II von Spanien gerathen, durch ein Testa- ment den Herzog von Anjou zum Erben der spanischen Monarrhie zu ernennen in Historisch- Politische Blatter, LXXXIII (Mu- nich, 1879), 25-46 and 125-150; Brischar in Kirrhenler.. s. v. MlCH.^EL OtT.
Innocent Xni, Pope (Michel.vngelodeiConti). b. at Rome, 1:3 May, 1655; d. at the same place, 7 March, 1 72 1. He was the son of Carlo II, Duke of Poh.
After studjang at the Roman College he was intro-
duced into the Curia by Alexander VIII, who in 1690
commissioned him to bear the blessed hat (bereltone)
and sword (stocco) to Doge Morosini of \'enice. In
1695 he was made Titular Archbishop of Tarsus and
nuncio at Lucerne, and in 1697, nuncio at Lisbon.
Clement XI created him Cardinal-Priest of Santi
tjuirico e GiuHtta on 17 Ma.v, 1706, conferred on him
the Diocese of Osimo in 1709, and
that of \'iterbo in 1712. Sickness
compelled him to resign his see in
1719. .\fter the death of Clement
XI he was elected pope in a stormy
conclave on .S May, 1721. In mem-
ory of Innocent III, to whose hneagi-
he belonged, he chose the name of
Innocent XIII. Soon after his suc-
cession he invested Emperor Charles
VI with the Kingdom of Sicily and re- ^"^'^ "^Jj^^^ocent
ceived his oath of allegiance in 1722.
When, a year later, the emperor invested the Spanish
prince Don Carlos, with Parma and Piacenza, the pope
protested on the ground that these two duchies were
under papal suzerainty. His protests, however, re-
mained unheeded. Like his predecessor, he gave an
annual pension to the English Pretender, James III,
the son of the dethroned Catholic King, James II, and
■ ven promised to aid him with 100,000 ducats, in ease
in opportunity should offer itself to regain the En-
■A\<h Crown b\- force of arms. He also assisted the
\enetians and especially the Island of Malta in their
-truggle against the Turks. In the dispute of the Jes-
lits with the Dominicans and others, concerning the
retention of various Chinese Rites among the Catholic
converts of China, Innocent XIII sided with the op-
ponents of the Jesuits. When in 1721 seven French
bishops sent a document to Rome containing a pe-
tition to suppress the Constitution " L^nigenitus" in
which Clement XI had condemned the errors of Ques-
nel, Innocent XIII not only conflomnid the writing of
the bishops, I'ut
also demand I'll
unconditional sul i-
mission to the
Constitution. II
was, however,
weak enough 1 1 ■
>-ield to Freiiili
pressure and mi-e
the un wort h y
Prime Minister
Dubois to the c:u-
dinalate. He, in-
deed, exhorted the
minister to change
his wicked life, Init
his exhortation-^
remained usele,-s
(For a mil <1 f I-
view of Dubois -ee
Bliard, "Dubnw,
cardinal et premier
ministre", Paris.
1901.) In a Bull
of March, 172.3, he regulated numerous abuses in Spain and was assisted in the execution of this Bull by King PhilipVof Spain. The fears which were raised in the beginning of his pontificate that he would Nneld to nepo- tism wereentirely groundless. He elevated his brother to the cardinalate, but did not allow his revenues to exceed 12,000 scudi as had been stipulated by Pope Innocent XII.
Mater. Papstwahl Innocenz' XIII (Vienna, 1874); Leben Pavst Innocentii XIII (Cologne. 1724): Michaud. La fin de Clement XI et le commencemeni du pontifical d' Innocent XIII in Internationale Iheologische Zeitschrifl, V, 42-60, 304-331.
MlCH.\EL OtT.
