Clement IX
Giulio Rospigliosi · 1667 – 1669
A gentle and charitable pope who died of grief after the fall of Crete to the Ottoman Turks.
Giulio Rospigliosi was from Pistoia and had been a playwright and diplomat before becoming pope in 1667. He was known for his personal kindness, giving generously to the poor and visiting hospitals. He brokered a temporary peace in the Jansenist controversy called the Clementine Peace. When the island of Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669 despite his efforts to send aid, he was devastated. He died shortly after, reportedly from grief.
Why He Matters
Clement IX is remembered as a genuinely good man who took his responsibilities to heart — perhaps too much so. His grief over the fall of Crete was the grief of a pastor who felt the suffering of Christians under siege as his own.