Pope Clement XIV

Clement XIV (born Lorenzo Ganganelli, actually Giovanni ( Gian ) Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli; born October 31, 1705 Santarcangelo di Romagna in Rimini ( Church State); † September 22, 1774 in Rome) was Pope from 1769 to 1774.

Background and education

Ganganelli was born on October 31, 1705, the son of the local doctor in Sant'Arcangelo at Rimini and baptized on November 2. The training in Verucchio and in 1717 in Rimini was made possible through his support of relatives and the Milanese Count Barnaldi. Impressed by the Franciscan life, he entered on 15 May 1723 at the Friars Minor in Mondaino and dialed in memory of his father the religious name Lorenzo. After the novitiate in Urbino he laid on May 18, 1724 from the religious vows. Between 1724 and 1728 he lived in various religious houses in Pesaro, Fano and Recanati, where he studied theology in particular. He then continued his studies ( 1728-1731 ) at the Roman College of St. Bonaventure led by Antonio Lucci, who later became Bishop of Bovino, continued. He then taught for ten years in philosophy and theology at Ascoli, Bologna and Milan. Few writings from this period testify to his good relations with the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola as the dedicated diatriba theologica historico - critico - dogmatica. In 1740, he returned as rain returns to the College of St. Bonaventure and lived in the convent of the Santi Apostoli.

Church career

Good contacts with some members of the Curia, especially to Cardinal Andrea Negroni, a close collaborator of Benedict XIV, in 1746 he owed his appointment as consultant to the Holy Office (today the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ). During his tenure in the Congregation of the Index numerous works of the French Enlightenment were banned.

Ganganelli was a capable, intelligent and prudent adviser to the Inquisition. On September 24, 1759, he was elevated to Cardinal and was the titular church of " S. Lorenzo in Panisperna ", which he later against" SS Apostoli " exchanged.

Pontificate

The three-month conclave after the death of Clement XIII. was overshadowed by the Jesuit question and the pressure that the Bourbon states Portugal, Spain and France had on the College of Cardinals. There were two adverse parties over cardinals who were close to the Bourbon crowns and opponents of the Jesuits, and the group of Zelanti, Friends of the Order. After the 185th ballot, the cardinals agreed on Ganganelli, who was elected on May 19, 1769 to the Pope and in memory of his predecessor, took the name Clement. On May 28, 1769 he was consecrated bishop, and on June 4 he ascended the papal throne.

As a member of the Franciscan religious order and of bourgeois origin, he broke the long line of popes who came from respected Italian noble families. He proposed also a new political course by trying to rely more on its direct employee trust. In the Jesuit question, the new pope wanted to win above all time, because he had left in the conclave both parties in the dark about his position. In his efforts to achieve reconciliation with the Bourbon States, he first determined the repeal of the papal bull In coena Domini, which was not read from Green Thursday, 1770 to the public. By this concession to the Bourbon claim he reached that the Papal Nunciature was re-opened in Portugal. But the French, the Spanish and Neapolitan king persisted on the dissolution of the Jesuit Order. They promised one hand, the return from Avignon and Benevento, which was occupied by France and Naples, but threatened the other hand, even to break away from Rome. Under this pressure, the Pope concluded on 17 October 1772 Collegium Romanum, the Roman seminary and religious houses in the Papal States and permitted in February, the Archbishop of Bologna an apostolic visitation with the Jesuits. On July 21, 1773 prescribed Clemens finally with the Breve (ie not in a Papal Bull, but "per letter " means a subordinate legal form) Dominus ac redemptor noster the dissolution of the Jesuit Order. The Breve begins with a note of the Pope on his efforts to the peaceful coexistence, followed by a list of charges against the Order allegations of Sixtus V to Benedict XIV, the well-being of all states in the eye keeping, he had the requirement of the ruler of France, Spain, Portugal and Sicily relented and the Order denied any function and management.

Clemens believed in the last months of his pontificate that the superior of the Jesuits still wanted him poison from their cells in the Castel Sant'Angelo. This is generally regarded by historians today as unfounded. In contrast, other voices often argue that Clemens wanted to exacerbate the Jesuits ban in addition to a cop and was killed the night before signing it.

Death

As of March 1774, his health deteriorated rapidly. He died on 22 September 1774th At first he was buried in St. Peter's Basilica, but then in 1802 moved to its cardinal - titular church " Santi XII Apostoli ".

After the Pope had died, examined an international medical community 's corpse Ganganellis to traces of poison. It could not be proved.