Giambattista Pamphili’s family hailed from Gubbio, but moved to Rome during Innocent VIII’s papacy. Giambattista studied canon law in Rome, and was soon afterward made Auditor of the Roman Rota (Church’s highest court) by Clement VIII. Over the next several years, he was sent to France and Spain by Urban VIII, made the papal nuncio to Madrid, and finally elevated to cardinal in 1626. Giambattista was a player in all the big ecclesiastical games of the day, most especially the Council of Trent and the Inquisition.

The conclave which elected Pope Innocent X was heavy on drama before it reached a conclusion. The French cardinals didn’t want a Spanish sympathizer, nor did the Spanish want a Frenchman in the Chair of Peter. Eventually, the two sides agreed on Innocent, who took office September 15, 1644. Innocent X began his papacy by going after the money-grubbing family of Urban VIII, who had used their influence to pad their pockets with public funds. Innocent was able to restore pleasantries with Venice -- relations were a tad bitter between Venice and Urban VIII -- by helping ward off the Turks. Venice thanked Innocent by allowing its bishops to be freely named by the pontiff, no small feat considering Venice was historically hard-headed when it came to outside influence. Innocent X died on January 7, 1655 and was buried in the Church of St. Agnes in Rome.

Pope Innocent X is best known for delivering a left hook to the Jansenist heresy with his bull, Cum occasione (“With an opportunity…”). Urban VIII had begun fighting the movement, which claimed that God’s grace was irresistible by nature and that man didn’t actually possess free will, with a bull of his own, but Innocent’s was a bit more specific. It condemned five core propositions in the Augustinus, Jansenism’s source document, and sparked intense debate over the next several decades. Innocent’s bull was a step toward resolving the conflict, since future papal declarations used his bull as a foundation, but the heresy wouldn’t be fully quashed until the next century.

Fun Fact: It’s thought that Guido Reni, in his famous painting of St. Michael the Archangel crushing the head of Satan, used the future Pope Innocent X as the model for his depiction of the devil. Apparently, Reni thought Innocent had been spreading rumors about him while still a cardinal. Over-reaction much?

Sometime in the year 1648, George Fox founded his Religious Society of Friends in England, better known as the Quakers.