Conclave 1691

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The conclave of 1691 was convened after the death of Pope Alexander VIII and ended with the election of Antonio Pignatelli as Pope Innocent XII. It took five months, from February 12 to 12. July 1691 . The conclave reached a dead end when Catholic monarchs opposed the emerging election of Gregorio Barbarigo , who also appeared to some members of the college of cardinals as too strict. The conclave ended in July when some cardinals got sick from the heat and French cardinals approved the election of Pignatelli, even though he was from Spanish-controlled Naples .

background

Questions of Gallicanism were prominent in the 1689 conclave elected by Alexander VIII. Alexander's predecessor Innocent XI. had refused to appoint new French bishops until 1688 35 dioceses were missing a bishop confirmed from Rome. Alexander's election had been secured by a promise that he would confirm the French bishops. Nonetheless, Alexander's last official act as Pope before his death on February 1, 1691 was the condemnation of the Declaration of the Clergy of France.

Alexander was also known for his nepotism , partly due to his advanced age and a belief that his family had little time to benefit from his rule. This was in contrast to his predecessor Innocent XI, who was known to be rigorous and not to have caused scandals through nepotism.

conclave

The conclave began on February 12, 1691. The college of cardinals was at its fixed maximum of 70 cardinals. However, only 38 cardinals were present at the beginning of the conclave. The number rose to 44 by February 19, and when Innocent XII was elected. 61 eligible voters were present in July.

The Cardinals of the Curia went to the conclave with the intention of electing Gregorio Barbarigo as Pope. Emperor Leopold I did not accept him because he was a Venetian . He did not lodge a formal veto ( ius exclusivae ), but did not want his election. The Spanish ambassador in Rome also worked against Barbarigo's choice and Louis XIV of France also opposed him because of the position of his allies.

Leandro Colloredo , the leader of the Zelanti faction in the College of Cardinals, initially proposed Barbarigo for the pontificate . Colloredo and his faction had the support in the conclave of Flavio Chigi, cardinal nepot of Alexander VII. Barbarigo was seen as an independent with a solid moral system, and it was believed that if elected he could abolish nepotism.

Although Leopold did not formally veto Barbarigo, it was rumored that he was excluded from eligibility, and despite the protests of the Zelanti faction, enough members of the College of Cardinals considered the emperor's possibility of expelling a candidate. Leopold had sent a messenger with two letters for his cardinals: in the one, public, he declared that he did not want Barbarigo to be expelled; in the second, private, he declared that he did not want him elected; he did not want to take responsibility for the exclusion, but wanted the Spaniards to do so. In addition, some of the more materialist-oriented cardinals feared that Barbarigo would be as strict as Pope Innocent XI, and this ultimately led to his failure in the election.

At the end of April it was clear to the cardinals that Barbarigo would not be elected Pope, and the conclave entered a time when it had no clear direction. The daily votes did not produce any promising candidates, the afternoon votes simply repeated the deadlock that had occurred that morning. For the first time since 1503, votes were given to non-cardinals in a conclave. There was no clear indication of who might be elected Pope, and at one point several cardinals started starting fires in their living quarters by accidentally knocking over a lamp while they were playing cards. As a result, some of the cells that housed cardinals were no longer habitable, but since three cardinals had died by that time, there was room to move the cardinals who had to move out of their previous apartment.

Election of Innocent XII.

Federico Altieri began to organize the election of the Pope for himself. He tried to portray himself as someone who both Leopold I and Louis XIV were benevolent. The Zelanti faction opposed him, which was enough to prevent his election. With his campaign, Altieri had proven himself to be a credible faction leader within the conclave and was now beginning to get his friend Antonio Pignatelli in position. Altieri tried to convince the French cardinals that Pignatelli, as Pope, would not work for the Spaniards even though he was from Naples. Pignatelli received support in March, but failed to achieve the majority required for the election. However, at the end of June the heat rose and some cardinals became ill. This made his candidacy possible, and he was elected Pope on July 12, 1691, against the objections of the Zelanti faction, and took the name Innocent XII. on.

This conclave was the longest papal election since 1305; it had lasted more than five months.

Eligible voters

65 cardinals took part in the voting:

  1. Antonio Pignatelli del Rastrello , Archbishop of Naples
  2. Alderano Cibo , Bishop of Ostia and Velletri , Dean of the Holy College
  3. Flavio Chigi , Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina , Sub-Dean of the Holy College
  4. Giovanni Nicolo Conti , Bishop of Ancona
  5. Giacomo Franzoni , Bishop of Frascati
  6. Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni , Bishop of Sabina , Camerlengo
  7. Emmanuel Théodose de la Tour d'Auvergne , Bishop of Albano
  8. Francesco Maidalchini
  9. Carlo Barberini
  10. Lorenzo Altieri
  11. Gregorio Barbarigo , Bishop of Padua
  12. Giulio Spinola
  13. Giovanni Delfino
  14. Niccolò Acciaiouli
  15. Gasparo Carpegna
  16. César d'Estrées
  17. Pierre de Bonzi , Archbishop of Narbonne
  18. Vincenzo Maria Orsini de Gravina , OP, Bishop of Benevento , later Pope Benedict XIII.
  19. Francesco Nerli the Younger
  20. Girolamo Casanate
  21. Galeazzo Marescotti
  22. Fabrizio Spada
  23. Philip Thomas Howard of Norfolk , OP
  24. Giambattista Spinola
  25. Francesco Buonvisi , Bishop of Lucca
  26. Savo Millini , Bishop of Orvieto
  27. Raimondo Capizucchi , OP
  28. Francesco Lorenzo Brancati di Lauria , OFMConv., Librarian of the Holy Roman Church
  29. Urbano Sacchetti , Bishop of Viterbo , cardinal protodeacon
  30. Gianfrancesco Ginetti , Bishop of Fermo
  31. Benedetto Pamphilj , OSIo.Hieros. Legate in Bologna
  32. Giacomo de Angelis
  33. Opizio Pallavicini , Bishop of Spoleto
  34. Marcello Durazzo , Bishop of Ferrara
  35. Marcantonio Barbarigo , Bishop of Montefiascone and Corneto
  36. Carlo Stefano Anastasio Ciceri , Bishop of Como
  37. Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch , Bishop of Győr
  38. Etienne Le Camus , Bishop of Grenoble
  39. Johann von Goëss , Bishop of Gurk
  40. Pietro Matteo Petrucci , Cong. Orat., Bishop of Jesi
  41. Pedro de Salazar Gutiérrez de Toledo , O. de M., Bishop of Cordoba
  42. Jan Kazimierz Denhoff , Bishop of Cesena
  43. José Sáenz de Aguirre , OSB
  44. Leandro Colloredo , Congr. Orat., Major Penitentiary
  45. Fortunato Ilario Carafa della Spina , Bishop of Aversa
  46. Domenico Maria Corsi , Bishop of Rimini
  47. Giovanni Francesco Negroni , Bishop of Faenza
  48. Fulvio Astalli
  49. Francesco Maria de 'Medici
  50. Rinaldo d'Este
  51. Pietro Ottoboni , governor of Fermo, Tivoli and legate in Avignon
  52. Bandino Panciatici , Datar
  53. Giacomo Cantelmo , Archbishop of Capua
  54. Ferdinando d'Adda
  55. Toussaint de Forbin Janson , Bishop of Beauvais
  56. Giambattista Rubini , Bishop of Vicenza and legate in Urbino
  57. Francesco del Giudice
  58. Giambattista Costaguti
  59. Carlo Bichi
  60. Giuseppe Renato Imperiali , legate in Ferrara
  61. Luigi Omodei
  62. Giovanni Francesco Albani , later Pope Clement XI.
  63. Francesco Barberini
  64. Federico Baldeschi Colonna
  65. Federico Visconti , Archbishop of Milan

Five cardinals did not participate in the election:

Two cardinals died during the papal election:

  • Giulio Spinola fell ill on February 21, 1691 and died on March 11, 1691
  • Raimondo Capizucchi, OP, fell ill on April 13, 1691 and died on April 22, 1691

Before the decisive election, two cardinals left the conclave:

  • Federico Visconti, June 19, 1691
  • Federico Baldeschi Colonna, on June 29, 1691

All of the cardinals present in the conclave came from the pontificate:

literature