INNOCENT VIII, POPE

Pontificate: Aug. 29, 1484 to July 25, 1492; b. Giovanni Battista Cibo, Genoa, 1432; d. Rome. After a profligate youth at the Neapolitan court, where he fathered

three illegitimate children, he reformed and entered the priesthood. He studied at Rome and Padua. His affability won him many friends and led to his becoming bishop of Savona (1467); in 1472 he was transferred to Molfetta. Through the influence of Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere (julius ii), whom he ardently admired, he was made cardinal in 1473. When sixtus iv died, Della Rovere, aware that he himself would not be elected, chose his weakwilled admirer as a candidate and by shameless bribery effected Cibo's election. The moral and political disorders of the time called for a pontiff of character and ability; Innocent possessed neither. A tool of Della Rovere, he was constantly embroiled in disputes and wars with various Italian states, especially Naples. The wars plunged the papacy into debt; to raise money, Innocent created numerous new posts, which he sold to the highest bidders. Hoping to check threatened Turkish attacks, he assembled Christian princes to discuss a crusade; nothing came of the meeting (1490). However, after the fall of Granada he secured some concessions from the Sultan Bajazet II (d. 1512), who in 1492 presented him with the holy lance.

In 1486 Innocent censured the theses of pico della mirandola; tried repeatedly but ineffectually to improve ecclesiastical morals; condemned witchcraft which was spreading in Germany (Summis desiderantes, 1484); and punished with death two ecclesiastics who had forged and sold papal documents—one of which permitted Norwegian priests to say Mass without using wine. Innocent's vacillations and incompetence nullified his efforts at reform. When dying, he implored the cardinals to elect as successor a pope better than himself—a plea that proved as futile as his reign.

Bibliography: l. pastor, The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (London-St. Louis 1938–61) 5:229–357; 375–378. e. armstrong and l. thorndike, Cambridge Medieval History (London-New York 1911–36) 8:197–200, 685–686. f. a. gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ed. w. kampf, 3 v. (Tübingen 1953–57). p. paschini, Roma nel Rinascimento (Bologna 1940). f. x. seppelt, Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 20. Jh. (Munich 1957) 4:369–376. f. merzbacher, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 5:692. o. baldacci, Roma e Cristoforo Colombo (Firenze 1992). c. colombo, Relazioni e lettere sul secondo, terzo e quarto viaggio (Roma 1992). c. s. l. davies, "Bishop John Morton, the Holy See, and the Accession of Henry VII," The English Historical Review (1987) 2–30. r. marino, "Cristoforo Colombo e Innocenzo VIII," in Actas del Simposio Internacional. La evangelizatiòn del Nuevo Mundo (Roma 1992) 299–307. g. rachet, Catherine Sforza. La dame de Forli (Paris 1987). e. sordini, "Barnadino da Feltre a Trevi per la riforma socio-religiosa dei costumi (1487)," Bollettino Storico di Foligno 10 (Foligno 1986) 167–90. j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 251.

[w. r. bonniwell]