The Role of Cardinal-Nephews in the Catholic Church Quiz - Test Your Knowledge

ten of the twenty-three Cardinal electors in the 1492 papal conclave—which elected Rodrigo Borja as Pope Alexander VI —were nephews of the popes that elevated them.

the citizens of Perugia compelled the surrender of the citadel of Gérard du Puy, the cardinal-nephew of Pope Gregory XI, during the War of the Eight Saints with a trebuchet nicknamed the cacciaprete ("priest chaser").

Pedro Luis de Borja Lanzol de Romaní was made a priest, bishop, and cardinal—in the opposite order—by his grand uncle Pope Alexander VI.

Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor, the first of ten cardinal-nephews of Pope Alexander VI, crowned Alfonso II of Naples, the future father-in-law of Lucrezia Borgia.

Arnaud de Pellegrue, a cardinal-nephew of Pope Clement V, led the papal army in a 1309 war against Venice.

Francisco de Borja, a cardinal-nephew of Pope Alexander VI, died before learning of his excommunication by Pope Julius II.

papal conclaves from the 14th to 17th centuries attempted to use capitulations to influence the popes they elected in matters from the appointment of cardinal-nephews to papal travel and construction projects.

The Role of Cardinal-Nephews in the Catholic Church

1 The practice of creating cardinal-nephews originated in the ________, and reached its apex during the 16th and 17th centuries.

2 [53] During the 19th century, the only nephew of a pope created cardinal was Gabriele della Genga Sermattei, nephew of Pope Leo XII, created cardinal by ________ on February 1, 1836.

3 [22] Edith Standen, a consultant to the ________, calls Ottoboni the "last and certainly not least magnificent example" of the "splendor of an extinct species, the Cardinal-Nephew".

4 [4] Alexander VIII also undid another reform of Innocent XI by restoring the revenues of the former Chancery to the ________, who was, at the time, his cardinal-nephew, Pietro Ottoboni.

5 [14][36][45] Romanum decet pontificem was later incorporated into the ________ in canons 240, 2; 1414, 4; and 1432, 1.

6 Although Pope Leo XI (1605) died before he was able to elevate his nephew, Roberto Ubaldini, Ubaldini was elevated by Leo XI's successor, ________ in 1615.

7 [24] The Cardinal Nephew was generally among a pope's first cardinal creations, and his creature was traditionally accompanied by a ________ from the guns of Castel Sant'Angelo.

8 [40] Another papal historian ________ notes that "the misfortune of Pope Pamphilj was that the only person in his family who would have had the qualities necessary to fill such a position was a woman".

9 [6] Every Renaissance pope who created cardinals appointed a relative to the ________, and the nephew was the most common choice.

10 [36] ________ (1572–1585) also had to be urged by key figures in the College to appoint his cardinal-nephew: Filippo Boncompagni.

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