Giovanni Facchinetti (Innocent IX) elected Pope

Pope Innocent IX (20 July, 1519 –30 December, 1591), born Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti, was Pope from 29 October, 1591 through his death on 30 December of the same year.

Prior to his short papacy, he had been a Canon Lawyer, diplomat, and chief administrator during the reign of Pope Gregory XIV (1590-1591).

Facchinetti, whose family came from Crodo, in the diocese of Novara, northern Italy, was born in Bologna on 20 July 1519. He was a lawyer, a graduate in 1544 of the University of Bologna, which was pre-eminent in jurisprudence, and became secretary to Cardinal Nicolò Ardinghelli before entering the service of Alessandro Cardinal Farnese, brother of the Duke of Parma and grandson of Pope Paul III (1534-1549), one of the great patrons of the time. The Cardinal, who was archbishop of Avignon, sent Facchinetti there as his ecclesiastical representative and subsequently recalled him to the management of his affairs at Parma, where he was acting governor of the city, from 1556 to 1558. In 1560, Facchinetti was named Bishop of Nicastro, in Calabria, and in 1562 was present at the Council of Trent. Pope Pius V (1566-1572) sent him as papal nuncio to Venice in 1566 to further the papal alliance with Spain and Venice against the Turks, which ultimately resulted in the victory of Lepanto in 1571. Relinquishing his see to pursue his career in Rome, he was named titular Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1572.

During the reign of the sickly Gregory XIV, who suffered from bouts of malaria, the burden of the papal administration rested on his shoulders. Even before Gregory XIV breathed his last, Spanish and anti-Spanish factions were electioneering for the next Pope. Philip II of Spain's (1556-1598) high-handed interference at the previous conclave was not forgotten: he had barred all but seven cardinals. This time the Spanish party in the College of Cardinals did not go so far, but they still controlled a majority, and after a quick conclave they raised Facchinetti to the papal chair as Pope Innocent IX. Mindful of the origin of his success, Innocent IX supported, during his two months' pontificate, the cause of Philip II and the Catholic League against Henry IV of France (1589-1610) in the civil Wars of Religion (1562-1598), where a papal army was in the field. Death, however, did not permit the realisation of Innocent IX's schemes.
His great-nephew Giovanni Antonio Cardinal Facchinetti de Nuce, juniore, was one of two Cardinals appointed during the weeks of Innocent IX's pontificate. A later member of the Cardinalate was his great-grandnephew Cesare Facchinetti (made a Cardinal in 1643).

Born at Bologna, 22 July, 1519; elected, 29 October, 1591; died at Rome, 30 December, 1591. After successful studies in jurisprudence in his native city he was graduated as doctor of law in 1544, and proceeded to Rome, where Cardinal Nicolò Ardinghelli chose him as his secretary. Later he entered the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who appointed him his ecclesiastical representative at the head of the Archdiocese of Avignon and subsequently called him to the management of his affairs at Parma. In 1560 he was named Bishop of Nicastro in Calabria, and in 1562 was present at the Council of Trent. Sent as papal nuncio to Venice by Pius V in 1566, he greatly furthered the conclusion of that alliance (Pope, Venice, Spain) against the Turks which ultimately resulted in the victory of Lepanto (1571). In 1572 he returned to his diocese, but resigning his see he removed to Rome. In 1575 he was named Patriarch of Jerusalem, and on 12 December, 1583, created Cardinal-Priest of the Title of the Four Crowned Martyrs — whence the frequent designation "Cardinal of Santiquattro". During the reign of the sickly Gregory XIV the burden of the papal administration rested on his shoulders, and on this pontiff's death the Spanish party raised Facchinetti to the papal chair. Mindful of the origin of his success, he supported, during his two months' pontificate, the cause of Philip II of Spain and the League against Henry IV of France. He prohibited the alienation of church property, and in a consistory held on 3 November, 1591, informed the cardinals of his intention of constituting a reserve fund to meet extraordinary expenses. Death, however, did not permit the realization of his vast schemes. He left numerous, though still unpublished, writings on theological and philosophical subjects: "Moralia quædam theologica", "Adversus Machiavellem", "De recta gubernandi ratione", etc. His bulls are printed in the "Bullarium Romanum", ed. Cocquelines, V, pt. I (Rome, 1751), 324-32.