The Office of the Pope

Abstract An account is given of the position of the office of the Pope in the Catholic Church in Europe in the eighteenth century, before the Enlightenment. The following aspects and popes are covered: authority, election, the veto, Pope Clement XI Albani (1700–21), the bull Unigenitus of 1713 condemning the French Oratorian Pasquier Quesnel's Moral Reflexions on the New Testament, the debate on infallibility, the Chinese rites, Pope Innocent XIII Conti (1721–4) and Benedict XIII Orsini (1724–30), Pope Clement XII Corsini (1730–40), Pope Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740–58), the secretary of state, the cardinal‐nephew, the college of cardinals, nuncios, the Congregations (curial offices commonly known as the dicasteries), the Inquisition (the Congregation of the Holy Office) and Index, the Spanish Inquisition, the Congregation of the Council, the action of the Pope, and the jubilee (a holy year).