Clement X
Emilio Bonaventura Altieri · 1670 – 1676
Elected at age seventy-nine, he worked to unite European powers against the Ottoman threat.
Emilio Altieri was nearly eighty when he became pope in 1670. Much of the actual governance fell to his adopted nephew Cardinal Paluzzi. Clement focused on rallying European princes to resist the Ottoman Empire's advance and canonized several saints. His advanced age limited his personal involvement, but the papal office continued to function through the curial system he maintained.
Why He Matters
Clement X governed at an advanced age through the help of capable administrators. His pontificate shows how the institutional Church can function even when an individual pope is limited by health or age.