Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X reigned from 1644 to 1655 and is best known through a portrait that shows him more clearly than any document. Born Giovanni Battista Pamphili in Rome in 1574, he trained as a canon lawyer, served as a nuncio in Naples, France and Spain, and was made a cardinal in 1629. He was elected after a conclave of nearly five months in which Spanish and French factions deadlocked; France attempted to veto him and arrived too late. His first act was to prosecute the family of his predecessor Urban VIII for embezzlement during the disastrous war of Castro, and the Barberini fled to France. His own household then drew the same charge. Olimpia Maidalchini, his widowed sister-in-law, exercised extraordinary influence over appointments and revenues, was said to sell offices, and was widely called the popess; Roman satirists suggested the initials on papal documents stood for her name rather than his. He condemned five propositions drawn from Jansen's Augustinus in the bull Cum occasione of 1653, opening a controversy that ran through French religious life for a century. He also denounced the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 in the bull Zelo Domus Dei, protesting at the concessions to Protestants; the powers ignored it, which demonstrated how far papal authority in European politics had fallen. He continued the rebuilding of Rome, commissioning Borromini's work at St John Lateran and the Piazza Navona around his family palace, where Bernini built the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Velázquez painted him in 1650, unflinchingly suspicious and hard, and he reportedly said it was too true. He died in 1655.
- Lived: 1574 CE – 1655 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: pope, cleric
