Clement XII

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Clement XII

pope

Also known as: Lorenzo Corsini

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Quick Facts

Original name:: Lorenzo Corsini

Born:: April 7, 1652, Florence

Died:: Feb. 6, 1740, Rome (aged 87)

Title / Office:: pope (1730-1740)

House / Dynasty:: Corsini family

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Clement XII (born April 7, 1652, Florence—died Feb. 6, 1740, Rome) was the pope from 1730 to 1740. A member of the influential Florentine princely family of Corsini, he became papal ambassador to Vienna in 1691, cardinal deacon in 1706, and pope on July 12, 1730. Despite ill health and total blindness (from 1732), he sought to halt the decline of papal influence but was far from successful. Although his protests against the spread of Gallicanism (an essentially French doctrine advocating restriction of papal power) to Spain were fruitless, his enforcement of Pope Clement XI’s bull Unigenitus of 1713 sustained ...(100 of 204 words)

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