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Bible Dictionaries
Alexander Vi, Pope
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
or
Reigned from 1492 to 1503. Born Xativa, near Valencia, Spain in 1431 as Rodrigo Borgia; died in Rome in 1503. He studied law at Bologna. He was adopted into the family of his uncle, Pope Callistus III, 1455, became cardinal-deacon, 1456, and cardinal-bishop, 1476, and dean of the Sacred College. From 1457 he officiated very successfully as Vice-Chancellor of the Roman Church. His election as pope met with general approval, and the attempts to attribute it to simony were never clearly proven. With great energy he labored to restore order in Rome and to stabilize its government. He was well versed in canon law, a patron of literature and science, a promoter of education, and the originator of missions to the New World. Gradually, by effective alliances with Milan, Venice, and Spain, he recovered the territories of the Papal States which had fallen under the control of petty tyrants, and finally overcame the Roman barons who were the causes of perpetual disorder in and about the city. He took advantage of his successes to promote the fortunes of his family, chiefly of those who were reputed to be his own children.
He is the most maligned of all the popes. The enemies he was compelled to make did not spare his memory. Historians in times succeeding his death were bent on reviling the papacy. Gradually writers for and against him have cleared him of the worst things imputed to him, and their controversies have brought out the fact that the mistakes or even evil deeds of a pope, deplorable though they may be, are not to be laid to the sacred office he holds.
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Entry for 'Alexander Vi, Pope'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ncd/a/alexander-vi-pope.html. 1910.
