Pope Innocent XI

Benedetto Odescalchi was born in Como on 16 May 1611, the son of a nobleman of Como, Livio Odescalchi, who died in 1626, and his wife Paola Castelli-Giovanelli from Gandino, who died of the plague in 1630. The child's siblings were Carlo Odescalchi (1609 - 1673), married to Beatrice Cusani of the Marquesses of Chignolo (parents of Giovanna Odescalchi (1651 - 14 July 1679), married in Milan on 27 May 1677 as his first wife to Carlo Borromeo-Arese, 6th Marquess of Angera, 11th Count of Arona, with issue), Lucrezia Odescalchi (9 October 1605 - ?), married on 4 February 1621 to Alessandro Erba (6 November 1599 - 31 August 1670), son of Gerolamo Erba and wife Vittoria Olgiati, ancestors of the Erba-Odescalchi, Giulio Maria Odescalchi, Costantino Odescalchi, Nicola Odescalchi and Paolo Odescalchi. He also had several collateral descendants of note through his sister: her grandson Cardinal Benedetto Erba Odescalchi and Cardinal Carlo Odescalchi - Servant of God. The Odescalchi, a family of minor nobility, were determined entrepreneurs. In 1619, Benedetto's brother founded in Genoa with his three uncles a bank which quickly grew into a successful money-lending business. After completing his studies in grammar and letters, the 15-year-old Benedetto moved to Genoa to take part in the family business as an apprentice. Lucrative economic transactions were established with clients in the major Italian and European cities, such as Nuremberg, Milan, Kraków, and Rome. In 1626, Benedetto's father died, and he began schooling in the humanities taught by the Jesuits at his local college, before transferring to Genoa. In 1630, he narrowly survived an outbreak of plague, which killed his mother. Some time between 1632 and 1636, Benedetto decided to move to Rome and then Naples in order to study civil law. This led to his securing the offices of protonotary apostolic, president of the Apostolic Camera, commissary of the Marco di Roma, and governor of Macerata; on 6 March 1645, Pope Innocent X (1644–55) made him Cardinal-Deacon with the deaconry of Santi Cosma e Damiano. He subsequently became legate to Ferrara. When he was sent to Ferrara in order to assist the people stricken with a severe famine, the Pope introduced him to the people of Ferrara as the "father of the poor". In 1650, Odescalchi became bishop of Novara, in which capacity he spent all the revenues of his see to relieve the poor and sick in his diocese. He participated in the 1655 conclave. In 1656, with the pope's permission, he resigned as bishop of Novara in favour of his brother Giulio and moved to Rome. While there, he took a prominent part in the consultations of the various congregations of which he was a member. He participated in the 1669–70 conclave. ==Papacy==

Election Odescalchi was a strong papal candidate after the death of Pope Clement IX (1667–69) in 1669, but the French government rejected him (using the now-abolished veto). After Pope Clement X (1670–76) died, Louis XIV of France (1643–1715) again intended to use his royal influence against Odescalchi's election. Instead, believing that the cardinals as well as the Roman people were of one mind in their desire to have Odescalchi as their Pope, Louis reluctantly instructed the French party cardinals to acquiesce in his candidacy. On 21 September 1676, Odescalchi was chosen to be Clement X's successor and took the name of Innocent XI. He chose this name in honour of Pope Innocent X, who made him a cardinal in 1645. He was formally crowned as pontiff on 4 October 1676 by the protodeacon, Cardinal Francesco Maidalchini. {{Infobox popestyles Reforming the administration of the papacy Immediately upon his accession, Innocent XI turned all his efforts towards reducing the expenses of the Curia. He passed strict ordinances against nepotism among the cardinals. He lived frugally and exhorted the cardinals to do the same. In this manner, he not only squared the annual deficit, which at his accession had reached the sum of 170,000 scudi, but within a few years the papal income was even in excess of the expenditures. He lost no time in declaring and practically manifesting his zeal as a reformer of manners and a corrector of administrative abuses. Beginning with the clergy, he sought to raise the laity also to a higher moral standard of living. He closed all of the theatres in Rome (considered to be centres of vice and immorality) and famously brought a temporary halt to the flourishing traditions of Roman opera. In 1679 he publicly condemned sixty-five propositions, taken chiefly from the writings of Escobar, Suarez and other casuists (mostly Jesuit casuists, who had been heavily attacked by Pascal in his Provincial Letters) as propositiones laxorum moralistarum and forbade anyone to teach them under penalty of excommunication. ==Foreign relations==

The Battle of Vienna Innocent XI was an enthusiastic initiator of the Holy League which brought together the states of the Holy Roman Empire and King John III Sobieski of Poland-Lithuania who in 1683 hastened to the relief of Vienna which was being besieged by the Turks. After the siege was raised, Innocent XI again spared no efforts to induce the Christian princes to lend a helping hand for the expulsion of the Turks from Ottoman Hungary. He contributed millions of scudi to the Turkish war fund in Austria and Hungary and had the satisfaction of hearing of the capture of Belgrade on 6 September 1688. and that he did not afford James help in his hour of trial. Innocent refused to appoint James II's choice as a Cardinal, Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet. ==Moral theology==

Innocent XI issued the papal bull Sanctissimus Dominus in 1679 to condemn 65 propositions that favoured a liberal approach to doctrine, which included two that related to abortion. He first condemned Proposition 34 and countered that it was unlawful to procure an abortion. He also condemned proposition 35, which stated: "It seems probable that the fetus (as long as it is in the uterus) lacks a rational soul and begins first to have one when it is born; and consequently it must be said that no abortion is a homicide." ==Other activities==

Innocent XI was no less intent on preserving the purity of faith and morals among all people. He insisted on thorough education and an exemplary lifestyle for all people, and he passed strict rules in relation to the modesty of dress among Roman women. Furthermore, he put an end to the ever-increasing passion for gambling by suppressing the gambling houses in Rome. By a decree of 12 February 1679 he encouraged frequent and even daily reception of Holy Communion. In 1688, he reiterated a decree of Pope Sixtus V that banned women from singing on stage in all public theatres or opera houses. Innocent XI was hostile towards the book Varia Opuscula Theologica (Various Theological Brochures) that the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez published. He ordered all copies to be burnt in 1679, but his orders were ignored. One of the books was discovered in 2015. Consistories He elevated 43 new cardinals into the cardinalate in two consistories. In 1681, he named Antonio Pignatelli a cardinal, who would later become Pope Innocent XII (taking his name in honour of the pope who elevated him). Innocent XI also intended to nominate his confessor Ludovico Marracci as a cardinal, but he declined the invitation. Beatifications and canonizations He also canonized two saints: Bernard of Menthon in 1681 and Pedro Armengol on 8 April 1687. He beatified six individuals. ==Death and beatification==

Final days and death Innocent XI is known to have suffered from kidney stones since 1682, and in 1689, his health declined notably. In June that year, he was confined to his bed. For reasons of ill health, he cancelled a consistory of cardinals convoked for 19 June for the examination of bishops, and he also cancelled meetings on 21 June. The pope was suddenly assailed by a strong fever on 25 June, and on 29 June, he was unable to celebrate the solemn Mass for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, deputing Cardinal Flavio Chigi to celebrate it in his place. The Pope's condition worsened on 2 July, and his doctors were led to lance his left leg, which caused fluid release, and eventually to undertake an operation on his right leg on 31 July, and two more in the following two days. On 9 August, he received the Viaticum since doctors were of the opinion that he had little time left to live. On 11 August, he received in audience Cardinal Leandro Colloredo, who came to remind him that the pope had been set to raise ten men to the cardinalate, but the pope refused to do so despite the cardinal's insistence. On the morning of 12 August, he lost the ability to speak and suffered from breathing difficulties. The monument, which was designed and sculpted by Pierre-Étienne Monnot, features the pope seated upon the throne above a sarcophagus with a base-relief showing the liberation of Vienna from the Turks by John III Sobieski, flanked by two allegorical figures representing Faith and Fortitude. In April 2011, the remains of Innocent XI were moved to make way for the remains of the beatified John Paul II. Beatification {{Infobox saint The process of Innocent XI's beatification was introduced in 1691 by Pope Innocent XII. His cause was formally opened on 23 June 1714 under Clement XI, granting him the title of Servant of God, and continued under Clement XII, but French influence and the accusation of Jansenism caused it to be suspended in 1744 by Pope Benedict XIV. In the 20th century, it was reintroduced; his writings were approved by theologians on 24 March 1945, Following his beatification, his sarcophagus was placed under the Altar of St. Sebastian in the basilica's Chapel of St. Sebastian, where it remained until 8 April 2011 when it was moved to make way for the remains of Pope John Paul II to be relocated to the basilica from the grotto beneath St. Peter's in honor of his beatification and in order to make his resting place more accessible to the public. Innocent's body was transferred to the basilica's Altar of Transfiguration, which is located near the Clementine Chapel and the entombed remains of Pope Gregory the Great (590–604). ==Encyclicals==

• Sollicitudo pastoralis (Fostering and Preserving the Orders of Men Religious) • Coelestis Pastor (Condemning the errors of Molinos) ==See also==