Alexander VIII, né Pietro Vitto Ottoboni (April 22, 1610 - February 1, 1691), pope from 1689 to 1691, was born of a noble Venetian family, was created cardinal, and then successively bishop of Brescia and datary.
The ambassador of King Louis XIV of France succeeded in procuring his election on October 6, 1689 as successor to Pope Innocent XI; nevertheless, after months of negotiation Alexander finally condemned the declaration made in 1682 by the French clergy concerning the liberties of the Gallican church. Charities on a large scale and unbounded nepotism exhausted the papal treasury. He bought the books and manuscripts of Queen Christina of Sweden for the Vatican Library. Alexander condemned in 1690 the doctrines of so-called philosophic sin, taught in the Jesuit schools. He died on February 1, 1691. (W. W. R.*)
Pope Alexander VI (1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503), born Rodrigo Borja (Italian: Rodrigo Borgia), (in office from 1492 to 1503), is the most controversial of the secular popes of the Renaissance and one whose surname became a byword for the debased standards of the papacy of that era.
Alexander VI's elevation did not at the time excite much alarm, and at first his reign was marked by a strict administration of justice and an orderly method of government in satisfactory contrast to the anarchy of the previous pontificate, as well as by great outward splendour.
Alexander's successor on the Throne of St. Peter, Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini, who assumed the name of Pope Pius III (1503), forbade the saying of a Mass for the repose of Alexander VI's soul, saying, "It is blasphemous to pray for the damned".
He went to Rome, during the pontificate of Urban VIII (1623-44), and was made governor of Terni, Rieti, and Spoleto.
Louis XIV of France whose political situation was now critical, profited by the peaceful dispositions of the new Pope, restored to him Avignon, and renounced the longabused right of asylum for the French Embassy.
Alexander was an upright man, generous, peace-loving, and indulgent.
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