Clement VII, Pope

Person

Clement VII, Pope

1478-1534

Giulio de’ Medici was born in 1478, a few months after the death of his father Giuliano de’ Medici. His parents had not been married, but as they were betrothed, Giulio was declared legitimate.

The young Giulio was educated by his uncle, and made both a Knight of Rhodes and Grand Prior of Capua. After his cousin Giovanni de’ Medici became Pope Leo X, Giulio was made cardinal on the 28th of September 1513. He was a favoured candidate for the papacy after Leo X’s death, but ultimately, Adrian VI was elected instead.

It was after Adrian VI’s death that Giulio was chosen as the next pope, on the 18th of November 1523. He took the papal name Clement VII. The political situation during Clement’s papacy was a complex one. Francis I and Emperor Charles V were at war, and despite the Medici family’s friendship with Charles, Clement sided with France. Clement helped organise the League of Cognac, ad was imprisoned in the Castle of Sant’ Angelo when Rome was attacked by Charles’ allies. He took refuge there again during the later sack of Rome. Eventually, Clement settled on terms of peace with Charles.

Clement was still a prisoner in Sant’ Angelo when he was visited by an envoy of King Henry VIII. Henry sought a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and to marry Anne Boleyn. Although Clement made many concessions to Henry’s demands, he ultimately resisted the request to grant a divorce. Henry was forbidden to marry while Rome deliberated on whether his marriage to Catherine was legitimate, but secretly married Anne Boleyn anyway. The death of Archbishop Warham in England allowed Henry to install Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, who proceeded to pronounce the marriage between Henry and Anne valid. Clement excommunicated Henry from the Catholic Church and declared his both his divorce from Catherine and his marriage to Anne as null and void. The marriage between Catherine and Henry was decreed fully legitimate, and England broke with the Catholic Church.

Clement VII died on the 25th September, 1534.

New Advent: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04024a.htm
Catholic Online: https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=3029