Pope Clement X
pope of the Catholic Church from 1670 to 1676 (1590-1676)
Pope Clement X (Latin: Clemens X; Italian: Clemente X; 13 July 1590 – 22 July 1676), born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 April 1670 to his death on 22 July 1676.
Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, born in Rome in 1590, belonged to the Papal nobility. He received a doctorate in law and held various positions within the Catholic Church, including Bishop of Camerino and Superintendent of the Papal Exchequer. At the age of almost 80, he was elected Pope Clement X in 1670 after a four-month-long conclave. As Pope, he canonized and beatified various saints, promoted good relations between Christian countries, and made efforts to preserve the Altieri family name by adopting the Paoluzzi family. He also established a new tax in Rome, which led to conflicts with ambassadors and cardinals. Clement X celebrated the fourteenth jubilee of the holy year in 1675 despite his old age. During his pontificate, he created 20 cardinals, including Pietro Francesco Orsini, who later became Pope Benedict XIII.
He suspended the Portuguese Inquisition's proceedings in October 1674, challenging the techniques employed against its main victims, the New Christians.
Early life
Emilio Bonaventura Altieri was born in Rome in 1590, the son of Lorenzo Altieri and Vittoria Delfin, a noble Venetian lady. His brother was Cardinal Giambattista Altieri.
The public source identifies “Pope Clement X” as pope of the Catholic Church from 1670 to 1676 (1590-1676). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pope, Clement and pope.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pope Clement X” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.