INNOCENT XII. (Antonio Pignatelli), pope from 1691 to 1700 in succession to Alexander VIII., was born in Naples on March 13, 1615, was educated at the Jesuit college in Rome, entered upon his official career at the age of 20, and became vice-legate of Urbino, governor of Perugia, and nuncio to Tuscany, to Poland and to Austria. He was made cardinal and archbishop of Naples by Innocent XI., whose pontificate he took as a model for his own, which began on July 12, 1691. His reforms were many and salutary. Among other things he struck at the root of nepotism in a bull of 1692 ordaining that thenceforth no pope should grant estates, offices or revenues to any relative. Innocent put an end to the strained relations that had existed between France and the Holy See f or nearly 5o years. He obtained from the French bishops the virtual repudiation of the Declaration of Gallican Liberties. He confirmed the bull of Alexander VIII. against Jansenism (1696) ; and, in 1699, under pressure from Louis XIV., condemned certain of Fenelon's doctrines which Bossuet had denounced as quietistic. (See FENELON.) Innocent died June 27, 17o0, and was succeeded by Clement XI.
See Guarnacci, Vitae et res gestae Pontiff. Rom. (1751), i. 389 sqq.; Ranke, Popes (Eng. trans., Austin, 184o, etc.), iii. 186 sqq.; v. Reu mont, Gesch. der Stadt Rom. (1867-7o) , iii. 2, p. 64o sqq., and the Bullarium Innoc. XII. (1697).