Editing Pope Clement XII

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1730 to 1740}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|type             = Pope
|honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
|name             = Clement XII
|title            = [[Bishop of Rome]]
|image            = Agostino Masucci – Portrait of Pope Clement XII, seated.jpg
|caption          = Portrait by [[Agostino Masucci]], {{circa|1730–40}}
|birth_name       = Lorenzo Corsini
|church           = [[Catholic Church]]
|term_start       = 12 July 1730
|term_end         = 6 February 1740
|predecessor      = [[Pope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]]
|successor        = [[Benedict XIV]]
|consecration     = 18 June 1690
|consecrated_by   = [[Flavio Chigi (1631–1693)|Flavio Chigi]]
|cardinal         = 17 May 1706
|created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Clement XI|Clement XI]]
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1652|4|7|df=y}}
|birth_place      = [[Florence]], [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]
|death_date       = {{death date and age|1740|2|6|1652|4|7|df=y}}
|death_place      = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
|previous_post   = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Nicomedia|Titular Archbishop of Nicomedia]] (1690–1706)
* [[Santa Susanna|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Susanna]] (1706–1720)
* [[San Pietro in Vincoli|Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli]] (1720–1725)
* [[Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Frascati|Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati]] (1725–1730)
}}
|motto            = Dabis discernere inter malum et bonum<br>(Distinguish between good and evil)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pope Clement XII (1730–1740) |url=http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/pope/C12.htm |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=www.gcatholic.org}}</ref>
|coat_of_arms     = C o a Clementem XII.svg
| signature       = Signature of Pope Clement XII.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
|other            = Clement
}}

'''Pope Clement XII''' ({{langx|la|Clemens XII}}; {{langx|it|Clemente XII}}; 7 April 1652{{snd}}6 February 1740), born '''Lorenzo Corsini''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740.

Clement presided over the growth of a surplus in the papal finances. He thus became known for building the new façade of the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]], beginning construction of the [[Trevi Fountain]],<ref>{{cite book | last =Gross | first =Hanns | title =Rome in the Age of Enlightenment: the Post-Tridentine syndrome and the ancient regime | publisher =Cambridge University Press | year =1990 | location =New York | page =28| isbn = 0-521-37211-9 }}</ref> and the purchase of Cardinal [[Alessandro Albani]]'s collection of antiquities for the papal gallery. In his 1738 bull {{lang|la|[[In eminenti apostolatus]]}}, he provides the first public papal condemnation of [[Freemasonry]].

== Early life ==
Lorenzo Corsini was born in [[Florence]] in 1652 as the son of Bartolomeo [[Corsini family|Corsini]], Marquis of Casigliano, and Elisabetta [[Strozzi family|Strozzi]], the sister of the [[Duke of Bagnuolo]]. Both of his parents belonged to the old Florentine nobility. He was a nephew of Cardinal [[Neri Corsini (1614–1678)|Neri Corsini]] and was a distant relative of Saint [[Andrew Corsini]].<ref name=Loughlin>{{Catholic|title=Pope Clement XII|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04030a.htm|last=Loughlin|first=James|volume=4|year=1908|access-date=10 June 2016|inline=1}}</ref>

Corsini studied at the [[Jesuit]] [[Roman College]] in [[Rome]] and also at the [[University of Pisa]] where he earned a doctorate in both civil law and [[canon law]].

== Career ==
[[File:Papa Clemente XII.jpg|thumb|left|Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini, by [[Francesco Trevisani]].]]

Corsini practised law under the able direction of his uncle, Cardinal [[Neri Corsini (1614-1678)|Neri Corsini]]. After the death of his uncle and his father, in 1685, Corsini, now thirty-three, would have become head of the Corsini. Instead, he renounced his right of [[primogeniture]] and from [[Pope Innocent XI]] (1676–1689) he purchased, according to the custom of the time, for 30,000 [[Italian scudo|scudi]], a position of prelatial rank and devoted his wealth and leisure to the enlargement of the library bequeathed to him by his uncle.<ref name=Loughlin/> Corsini's home on the [[Piazza Navona]] was the centre of Rome's scholarly and artistic life.<ref name=artifacts>"[http://www.papalartifacts.com/collection/pope-clement-xii/ Pope Clement XII]", ''Papal Artifacts''</ref>

In 1690 he was made [[Titular bishop|titular Archbishop]] of [[Nicomedia]] and chosen [[Apostolic Nunciature to Austria|nuncio to Vienna]], receiving a dispensation from [[Pope Alexander VIII]] since he had not yet been ordained a priest. He did not proceed to the imperial court,<ref name=Loughlin/> because [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]], the [[Holy Roman Emperor]], maintained that he had the right to select the nuncio from a list of three names furnished by the pope.<ref name=artifacts/>

In 1696, Corsini was appointed treasurer-general and governor of the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]]. His good fortune increased during the pontificate of [[Pope Clement XI]] (1700–1721),<ref name=Loughlin/> who employed his talents as a courtier and named him [[Cardinal-Priest]] of ''[[Santa Susanna]]'' on 17 May 1706, retaining his services as papal treasurer.<ref name=Loughlin/>

He advanced still further under [[Pope Benedict XIII]] (1724–1730), who made him Prefect of the [[Apostolic Signatura]], a judicial branch of the [[Roman Curia]]. He was successively appointed as the Cardinal-Priest of [[San Pietro in Vincoli]] and Cardinal-[[Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Frascati|Bishop of Frascati]].<ref name=Loughlin/>

== Pontificate ==
{{Infobox popestyles
|image            = C o a Clementem XII.svg
|dipstyle         = [[His Holiness]]
|offstyle         = Your Holiness
|relstyle         = Holy Father
|deathstyle       = None
}}

===Papal election===
{{main|1730 papal conclave}}
[[File:Médaille en or à l'effigie du Pape Clément XII, 1730.jpg|thumb|left|Clement XII, 1730]]

Under Benedict XIII, the finances of the [[Papal States]] had been delivered into the hands of Cardinal [[Niccolò Coscia]] and other members of the curia, who had drained the financial resources of the see. Benedict died in 1730, and in the conclave that followed his death, after deliberating for four months, the [[College of Cardinals]] selected Corsini, 78 years old and with failing eyesight, who had held all the important offices of the [[Roman Curia]].<ref name=Loughlin/> No pope has since been elected at an older age than Clement XII when he was elected.{{efn|[[Pope Benedict XVI|Benedict XVI]] is also often listed as being elected at 78, but when elected [[2005 papal conclave|in 2005]] he was two months younger than Clement.}}

As a [[Corsini]], with his mother a [[Strozzi family|Strozzi]], the new pope represented a family at the highest level of Florentine society, with a cardinal in every generation for the previous hundred years.

On 1 May 1730, several of the cardinals initially settled upon electing Cardinal [[Gianantonio Davia]] but had been unable to secure the necessary support. To that end, they refocused their efforts on getting Corsini elected, securing him 31 votes. Corsini, however, was not seriously considered as a candidate until about early July when the candidacy of [[Pietro Marcellino Corradini]] started to waver. Meanwhile, the French, Spanish, and Germans were perfectly amenable to Corsini's election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1730.html|title=Sede Vacante 1730|date=29 September 2015|author=John Paul Adams|publisher=CSUN|accessdate=7 March 2022}}</ref>

Corsini took his papal name in memorial to [[Pope Clement XI]], who created him cardinal.

===Finances===
His first moves as Pope Clement XII were to restore the papal finances. He demanded restitution from the ministers who had abused the confidence of his predecessor. The chief culprit, Cardinal Niccolò Coscia, was heavily fined, [[excommunication|excommunicated]] and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Papal finances were also improved through reviving the public lottery, which had been suppressed by the severe morality of Benedict XIII. Soon money poured into Clement XII's treasury, an annual sum amounting to nearly a half million ''[[scudi]]'', enabling him to undertake the extensive building programs for which he is chiefly remembered,<ref name=Loughlin/> but which he was never able to see.

===Art and architecture===
[[File:Pope Clement XII bust.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Bust of Clement XII by [[Edme Bouchardon]]]]
A competition for the majestic façade of the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]] was won by architect [[Alessandro Galilei]]. The façade he designed is perhaps more palatial than ecclesiastic, and was finished by 1735. Clement XII erected in that ancient basilica a magnificent chapel dedicated to his 14th-century kinsman, St. [[Andrew Corsini]]. He restored the [[Arch of Constantine]] and built the [[Palazzo della Consulta]] on the [[Quirinal Hill]]. He purchased from Cardinal [[Alessandro Albani]] for 60,000 scudi a famous collection of statues, inscriptions, etc., and opened it to the public as the [[Capitoline Museums]]. He paved the streets of Rome and the roads leading from the city and widened the [[Via del Corso]]. He began the triumphant Baroque [[Trevi Fountain]], one of the noted ornaments of Rome. Under his reign, a port was built at [[Ancona]], with a highway that gave easy access to the interior. He drained the malarial marshes of the Chiana near [[Lake Trasimeno]].The pope founded in 1732 the Italo-Albanian College Library of [[San Demetrio Corone]] in [[Calabria]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337186795|title=De Rose, Conforti}}</ref><ref name=Loughlin/>

===Foreign policy===
Politically, however, this was not a successful papacy among the secular powers of Europe. When the attempt of Papal forces to take over the ancient independent Republic of [[San Marino]] failed, Clement XII disavowed the arbitrary action of his legate, Cardinal [[Giulio Alberoni]], in seizing San Marino, and restored its independence. He was also rebuffed in Papal claims over the [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza]].<ref name=Loughlin/>

In August 1730 he gave permission for [[Victor Amadeus II of Savoy]] to carry out a [[morganatic marriage]] to [[Anna Canalis di Cumiana]]. Victor Amadeus II subsequently abdicated his throne causing great unrest in [[Duchy of Savoy|Savoy]].

===Ecclesial activities===
[[File:Retrato del papa Clemente XII (Universidad de Salamanca).jpg|thumb|''Papa Clemente XII'', unknown Spanish artist <small>(oil on canvas, 1739, [[University of Salamanca]])</small>]]
In ecclesiastic affairs he issued ''[[In eminenti apostolatus]]'', the first papal decree against the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]] on 28 April 1738. He canonized [[Saint Vincent de Paul]] and proceeded with vigour against the French [[Jansenism|Jansenists]]. He campaigned for the reunion of the Roman and [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox churches]], received the [[Patriarch]] of the [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Church]] and persuaded the [[Catholicos of Armenia|Armenian Patriarch]] to remove the [[anathema]] against the [[Council of Chalcedon]] and [[Pope Leo I]] (440–461). He dispatched [[Joseph Simeon Assemani]] to the East for the twofold purpose of continuing his search for manuscripts and presiding as legate over the [[Lebanese Council of 1736]].<ref name=Loughlin/> He created the youngest Cardinal ever when on 19 December 1735, he named [[Luis Antonio Jaime de Borbón y Farnesio]], Royal [[Infante]] of Spain, age 8, to the [[Sacred College]].

Though he was blind and compelled to keep to his bed, from which he gave audiences and transacted affairs of state, he surrounded himself with capable officials, many of them his Corsini relatives, but he did little for his family except to purchase and enlarge the palace built in [[Trastevere]] for the [[Riarii]], and now known as the [[Palazzo Corsini, Rome|Palazzo Corsini]] (the seat of the [[Accademia dei Lincei]]). In 1754, his nephew, Cardinal [[Neri Maria Corsini]], founded there the famous Corsini Library.<ref name=Loughlin/>

===Consistories===
{{main|Cardinals created by Clement XII}}
Clement XII created 35 cardinals in fifteen consistories held throughout his pontificate. The first individual he raised into the cardinalate was his nephew [[Neri Maria Corsini]] while he also raised his future successor Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico ([[Pope Clement XIII]]) to the cardinalate. He also raised his nephew [[Giovanni Antonio Guadagni]] to the cardinalate in 1731.

===Canonizations and beatifications===
The pope named five new saints during his reign, the most notable being [[Vincent de Paul]]. He also beatified eight others including, his predecessor [[Pope Benedict XI]].

== Death and burial ==
[[File:Tomb of Pope Clement XII.jpg|thumb|right|The tomb of Clement XII.]]
Clement XII died on 6 February 1740 at 9:30 am due to complications from [[gout]]. His remains were transferred to his tomb in the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]] on 20 July 1742.<ref name=Loughlin/> Pope Clement XII's tomb is in the Capella Corsini of the Basilica of St. John Lateran and was completed by the sculptors [[Giovanni Battista Maini]] and Carlo Monaldi. His bust was completed by [[Filippo della Valle]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.wga.hu/html/v/valle/clementx.html |title = Bust of Pope Clement XII by VALLE, Filippo della}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Cardinals created by Clement XII]]
* [[List of popes]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{commons category-inline}}
* {{wikisource-inline}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Pope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Pope]] | years=12 July 1730{{snd}}6 February 1740}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Pope Benedict XIV|Benedict XIV]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement 12}}

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[[Category:Pope Clement XII| ]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Frascati]]
[[Category:Clergy from Florence]]
[[Category:University of Pisa alumni]]
[[Category:1652 births]]
[[Category:1740 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian people]]
[[Category:Corsini family|Benedict]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:18th-century popes]]
[[Category:Prefects of the Apostolic Signatura]]
[[Category:Burials at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]]