Emmanuele de Gregorio (18 December 1758 – 7 November 1839) was an Italian cardinal of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and son of Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache.

Biography

De Gregorio was born at sea while his mother was travelling to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Although he had one other cardinal among his relatives, no other information about his early life survives. However, by age 22 in 1780 he had become archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran basilica and in the following two decades became caught up in the controversy of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, being imprisoned in 1798 and kept in captivity between 1811 and 1814. He was deputy vicar of Rome for long periods from 1795 to 1818 as the actual vicar, Cardinal Giulio Maria della Somaglia, was frequently absent. However, it is known that at one point the revolutionary government of France had planned to create him antipope in opposition to Pope Pius VI when he condemned the French Revolution in 1791. In 1816, Pope Pius VII made De Gregorio a cardinal and in the following decade he rose to be one of the most powerful men in the Church. In both the

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and 1830

conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Co ...

s, he was considered one of the leading ''

papabili ''Papabile'' (, also , ; ; or "able to be pope") is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man, in practice always a cardinal, who is thought a likel ...

'' but had too many opponents to be elected Pope. He died in Rome in 1839.

References

External links

Brief biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Gregorio, Emmanuele 1758 births 1839 deaths 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Frascati Members of the Sacred Congregation of the Council Major Penitentiaries of the Apostolic Penitentiary Cardinals created by Pope Pius VII People born at sea