Pope Gregory X

Gregory X (* 1210 in Piacenza as Tebaldo Visconti, † January 10, 1276 in Arezzo) was Pope from 1271 to 1276.

Election to the papacy

After the ministry of the Bishop of Rome had been almost three years vacant after the death of Pope Clement IV - it was the longest since Sedisvakanz Marcellinus - the archdeacon of Liege Tebaldo Visconti was elected in absentia on September 1, 1271 to the Pope, to have been a priest without ever. Blame for these states was Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, who set his dependent Cardinals him against the Cardinals, wanted to crown him as a counterweight to a new Roman-German king emperor. During this time, Charles consolidated his tyrannical regime, but lost his main goal, the conquest of Byzantium, not out of sight.

At the time of his election Gregory X was still in the army of Edward I of England on the Seventh Crusade in Palestine. There he instructed allegedly as the newly elected Pope at Acre, the three already located on their way to the Mongol chief commercial traveler Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo officially to continue their journey to the Great Khan to this to convert to Christianity and to win as allies against Islam.

On March 13, 1272 Tebaldo Visconti then met in Rome, where he was ordained a priest on March 19 and used on March 27, when Pope Gregory X..

Pontificate

Church policy

Gregory called the second Council of Lyons, in order to organize a new crusade, however, despite the commitments of the Kings of England, France and Sicily neither enough enthusiasm kindle still gain sufficient money for it, so this crusade did not materialize. On the other hand, it came to this Council at the instigation of Michael VIII, the Emperor of Byzantium, to reunite the Eastern to the Western Church. Emperor Michael wanted by the Union against the expansionist desires of King Charles, who was of course against the Union, protect. Charles, meanwhile, called King of Albania and continued his policy of conquest in Greece continued. This union came about despite the resistance of the Byzantine clergy and the Byzantine people. But the hatred of the Byzantines on Latinism and the West, especially because of the crimes committed in the Fourth Crusade crime was too great. That is why Emperor Michael could not prevail despite repressive measures at the end. His son and successor Andronikos II Palaiologos eventually recanted after he took office in 1282 the Union. The Pope could give at the end of a short truce between the Emperor Michael and King Charles.

However, the best known of today's viewpoint result of the synod was probably the decree Ubi periculum in which recognized the papal election, ten days after the that of the old Pope died and the conclave has been introduced to shorten the time until the election of a new pope. Thus, it was the Cardinals no longer allowed to the successful election of a pope to leave the premises where they met for this project.

Secular Politics

As for the secular politics, Gregor sat for the settlement of disputes among the princes in Italy and Germany. He wrote himself a script to reconcile the Guelphs and Ghibellines, and also worked towards ending the interregnum in Germany. The new French king Philip III. France wanted the imperial dignity for themselves. However, the Pope rejected this requirement strictly. Also Ottokar II of Bohemia he refused to support for the German crown. Instead, he announced to the Elector that he would appoint a German king, they should not be able to decide - with the decisive reason for the insistence of Gregory must be seen in its search for support for his planned crusade. Then, in 1273, Count Rudolf of Habsburg was elected on 1 October in Frankfurt and crowned in Aachen on 24 October. After long negotiations, the Pope reached the waiver of Alfonso the German crown. Gregor tried in vain an alliance between King Rudolf and King Charles convey. He met with King Rudolf on October 20, 1275 in Lausanne, to appeal to him for the February 2, 1276 the imperial coronation to it but did not come because of the death of Gregory.

Death

Gregory X died on January 10, 1276 in Arezzo, and was buried in the cathedral there.

He is revered in the Catholic Church as Seliger. His feast day is day of his death on January 10.