Blessed Benedict XI
Niccolò Boccasini · 1303 – 1304
A Dominican peacemaker who tried to heal the wounds left by Boniface VIII's clash with France, dying after only eight months.
Niccolò was from Treviso and entered the Dominican Order, rising to become its master general. He was elected pope in 1303 after the traumatic pontificate of Boniface VIII, who had been physically assaulted by agents of the French king. Benedict tried to reconcile with France while maintaining the Church's dignity. He absolved Philip IV of France from excommunication but refused to lift sanctions against the men who had actually attacked Boniface at Anagni. He died in Perugia in July 1304, possibly poisoned. He was beatified in 1736.
After the Outrage
Benedict XI inherited a Church in crisis. His predecessor had been humiliated by the French crown, and the papacy's authority was shaken. Benedict tried to find a middle path: forgive enough to make peace, but not so much that the assault on Boniface would go unpunished. He ran out of time before he could finish the job.