INNOCENT XII., Antonio Pignatelli, pope from 1691 to 1700, was the successor of Alexander VIII. He came of a distinguished Neapolitan family, and was born March 13, 1615. Educated at the Jesuit college in Rome, he in his twentieth year became an official of the court of Urban VIII.; under successive popes he served as nuncio at Florence and Vienna and in Poland; and by Innocent XI. he was made cardinal (1681) and archbishop of Naples. Immediately after his election (July 12, 1691) he declared against the nepotism which had too much and too long been one of the greatest scandals of the papacy; the bull “Romanum decet Pontificem,” issued in 1692, prohibited popes in all times coming from bestowing estates, offices, or revenues on any relative; at the same time he sought to check thé simoniacal practices of the apostolic chamber, and in connexion with this to introduce a simpler and more economical manner of life into his court. He introduced various much-needed reforms into the States of the Church, and for the better administration of justice erected the Forum Innocentianum. In 1693 he compelled the French bishops to retract the four propositions relating to the “Gallican Liberties” which had been formulated by the assembly of 1682. In 1699 he decided in favour of Bossuet in his controversy with Fénelon about the Explication des Maximes des Saints sur la Vie Intérieure of the latter. His pontificate contrasted with that of a series of predecessors in having marked leanings towards France instead of Germany. This benevolent, self-abnegating, and pious pope died on September 27, 1700, and was succeeded by Clement XI.

INNOCENT XIII., Michael Angelo Conti, pope from 1721 to 1724, was born in 1655, and became cardinal under Clement XI. in 1706. From 1697 to 1710 he acted as papal nuncio to the kingdom of Portugal, where he is believed to have formed those unfavourable impressions of the Jesuits which afterwards influenced his conduct towards them. In 1721 his high reputation for ability, learning, purity, and a kindly disposition secured his election to succeed Clement XI. His pontificate was prosperous, but comparatively uneventful. He prohibited the Jesuits from prosecuting their mission in China, and ordered that no new members should be received into the order. This indication of his sympathies encouraged some French bishops to approach him with a petition for the recall of the bull “Unigenitus” by which Jansenism had been condemned; the request, however, was peremptorily denied. Innocent XIII., like his predecessor, showed much favour to the English Pretender “James III.,” and liberally supported him. He died March 7, 1724, and was succeeded by Benedict XIII.