Pope Gregory XII (c. 1335-1417)

Many medieval popes are forgotten by the general public. Gregory XII, however, deserves to be known for three exceptional reasons that make him a key figure for understanding the papacy, the Western Schism and the question, burning since 2013, of papal renunciation.

The pope elected to abdicate

The case is almost unique in the history of the Church: Gregory XII was not elected to reign, but to put an end to a scandal. The fourteen cardinal electors present in 1406 sought a pious old man, ready to sacrifice himself by yielding his office to allow reunification. The oath to abdicate was not a vague promise: it was the very programme of his pontificate, the condition of his election.^[14][15]

The pope who legitimized the Council of Constance

The legal difficulty of the schism was insoluble: only a legitimate pope can convene an ecumenical council, but no one knew any longer who was the legitimate pope. Gregory XII resolved the knot with an act of great canonical finesse: he himself convened the Council of Constance, thereby affirming that he was indeed the pope, before abdicating. The Roman line thus saved its legitimacy, whereas the Pisan popes had only a de facto election. Gregory XII did not "dissolve" the council, however: it was Martin V who solemnly closed it, at the forty-fifth session, on 22 April 1418.^[16][17][18]

The last pope to renounce before Benedict XVI

For nearly six centuries, the abdication of Gregory XII in 1415 remained the last pontifical renunciation in history. When Benedict XVI announced his own, on 11 February 2013, commentators at once presented Gregory XII as the chronological precedent, the last renunciation dating to 1415, a technical precedent, distinct from the more devotional one of Celestine V.^[19]

Angelo Correr, patrician of Venice

The future Gregory XII was born in Venice, into the great patrician family of the Correr, son of Niccolò di Pietro Correr. A Venetian by birth and culture, he belonged to that aristocracy of the Serenissima which supplied the Church with prelates skilled in diplomacy and government. This origin would weigh heavily: throughout his pontificate, the Venetian entourage of the Correr influenced his decisions, sometimes to the detriment of the cause of unity.^[20][21]

An uncertain birth date

The exact year of his birth is the subject of serious debate among historians. The old tradition, followed by most English-language sources, the Catholic Encyclopedia gives "about 1327", places it around 1326-1327: Gregory XII would thus have been an octogenarian at the time of his election. No civil record supports this date, however: it is on the contrary on the cardinal's physical appearance in 1406, the Enciclopedia dei Papi reports that "people said, judging by his physical appearance, that he was seventy years old and more", that Gherardo Ortalli bases, by induction, the usual dating around 1335, judging a postponement to around 1345 to be sustainable.^[22][23]

"When he was elected pope in 1406, going by his physical appearance, people said he was seventy years old and more." , Enciclopedia dei Papi, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana (Treccani)^[24]

The Enciclopedia dei Papi (Gherardo Ortalli, 2000) usually retains a birth around 1335 in Venice and judges sustainable the proposal to postpone it to around 1345: at the election of 1406, Angelo Correr would thus have been between sixty and seventy years old, not eighty. It is this revised dating that the present article follows.^[25]

Bishop of Castello and Latin Patriarch of Constantinople

Angelo Correr's ecclesiastical career follows a steady ascent. In 1380, he was promoted Bishop of Castello, the historic episcopal see of Venice. Ten years later, Pope Boniface IX appointed him titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, a prestigious title inherited from the Crusades, which made him, at least nominally, the head of the Latin Church of the East: the date retained here is 1 December 1390, given by Salvador Miranda, while Catholic-Hierarchy records this appointment on 21 November 1390, the day on which Miranda ends the episcopate at Castello. The discrepancy between the two directories is not settled here.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Cardinal of San Marco and Apostolic Secretary

Under the pontificate of Innocent VII (1404-1406), Angelo Correr became Apostolic Secretary, then governor of the March of Ancona in 1405, a region he would administer again, by a curious turn of events, after his abdication. That same year, on 12 June 1405, Innocent VII created him cardinal-priest of the title of San Marco, the national church of the Venetians in Rome. It was as an experienced cardinal, reputed for his austerity of life, that he entered the conclave of 1406.^{[30][31][32][33]}

The death of Innocent VII and the 1406 conclave: fourteen electors

The Western Schism had lasted since 1378. The Roman line, the one recognized today as legitimate, had already produced three popes (Urban VI, Boniface IX, Innocent VII) facing the Avignon pontiffs. On the death of Innocent VII, on 6 November 1406, the Roman Sacred College numbered eighteen cardinals, of whom fourteen took part in the conclave to give him a successor. The sense of urgency was at its height: what was needed was a pope willing to sacrifice himself for unity.^[34][35][36]

The electoral capitulation: the via cessionis

Even before voting, the fourteen electors present signed an electoral capitulation of exceptional rigour. Each solemnly swore that, if elected, he would abdicate as soon as his Avignon rival, Benedict XIII, likewise abdicated or died, so that a single election might finally reunite the Church. The oath included a second clause: to create no new cardinals, except to maintain numerical parity with the Avignon college, a provision meant to prevent any pope from "locking in" his own camp.^[37][38]

"He swore, in order to end the schism, that if elected he would abdicate the papacy, provided his Avignon rival, Benedict XIII, did the same." , The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. VII, on Gregory XII^[39]

This "way of cession" (via cessionis) was one of three solutions discussed by theologians to end the schism, alongside the via compromissi (arbitration) and the via concilii (the general council). Elected on 30 November 1406, Angelo Correr took the name of Gregory XII and, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "to all appearances, intended to keep" his oath.^[40][41]

The coronation and first promises

Crowned on 19 December 1406, Gregory XII first multiplied gestures of goodwill. On 12 December 1406, even before his coronation, he notified Benedict XIII of his election and reaffirmed his readiness to "lay down the tiara" if the Aragonese did as much. Everything, in those first weeks, gave hope for a swift end to the schism. The momentum would soon collapse.^[42][43]

The planned meeting at Savona

The two popes agreed in principle on a meeting at which they would abdicate together, to allow the two reunited Sacred Colleges to elect a single pontiff. The chosen venue was Savona, a Ligurian port under French domination, in land of Avignonese obedience, a choice that fed the mistrust of the Roman camp. A legal framework was even negotiated: the Marseille agreement of 21 April 1407 set the terms of reunification. On paper, unity seemed within reach.^[44][45]

Why the meeting never took place

And yet, the two popes never met. The reasons were both personal and political, and they reveal the tragedy of the schism: each, in theory ready to renounce, shrank from the act.

• Benedict XIII's manoeuvres. The Aragonese gave, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "various indications that he had not the least intention of resigning," multiplying demands and delays.^[46]
• Pressure from Ladislas of Naples. King Ladislas of Naples, who supported the Roman line for political motives (he coveted the Papal States), had no interest in seeing the schism resolved, and used all his influence to prevent the meeting.^[47][48]
• The Venetian entourage. The Correr relatives and the Venetian clan dissuaded the old pope from venturing to Savona, for fear he might be captured or tricked there.^[49][50]

Mistrust ran so deep that each feared falling into the hands of the other's partisans by keeping the rendezvous, Gregory XII fearing, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, that the meeting would serve only to capture him.^[51][52]

The broken oath: the creation of nephew-cardinals

In May 1408, at Lucca, Gregory XII took the step that would shatter trust: in defiance of his oath, he created new cardinals, four at once, according to the best-attested sources (the date varies between 4 and 9 May 1408 depending on the chronicles), then more afterwards. Among them were two of his nephews: Antonio Correr and, above all, Gabriele Condulmer, the future Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447).^[53][54][55]

This nepotism, added to the repudiation of the oath, broke trust: the Catholic Encyclopedia stresses the pope's "inordinate" attachment to his own and the open discontent of the cardinals, who deserted him in the spring of 1408.^[56][57]

The desertion of the Roman cardinals (1408)

The reaction was immediate. Outraged by the violation of the oath and weary of the procrastination, most of Gregory XII's cardinals deserted him in the spring of 1408. They left Lucca, made common cause with the dissident Avignon cardinals, equally exasperated by Benedict XIII's intransigence, and resolved to convene a general council to settle the question of the two popes. It was from this cross-desertion that the Council of Pisa would be born.^[58][59]

The deposition of the two pontiffs

The council opened at Pisa in March 1409, gathering the cardinals of both obediences, many bishops and doctors. On 5 June 1409, it solemnly deposed both popes in absentia, Gregory XII and Benedict XIII, declaring them, in the English-reported formula, "schismatical, heretical, perjured, and scandalous" (schismatics, heretics, perjurers and scandalous; the original Latin sentence is not quoted here). On 26 June 1409, the Fathers elected a new pope, Alexander V (Pietro Philarghi). Far from resolving the crisis, Pisa had just tripled it: the Church now counted three claimants instead of two.^[60][61][62]

The rival council of Cividale del Friuli

Gregory XII did not submit. To assert that he remained the legitimate pope, he convened his own council at Cividale del Friuli, near Aquileia, in June 1409. Attendance was derisory, only a few bishops, but the assembly in turn declared Benedict XIII and Alexander V "perjurers and devastators of the Church." The council fizzled out, and Gregory XII had to leave the place by night, in early September 1409, his authority reduced to almost nothing.^[63][64]

Gregory XII's supporters

Deprived of Rome and of most of his cardinals, Gregory XII owed his political survival only to a handful of protectors:

This shrinking of the Roman obedience to a few Italian and German principalities shows how politically doomed Gregory XII's cause appeared around 1410-1411. His rehabilitation would come, paradoxically, from the very council that was meant to eliminate him.^[65][66][67]

The strategy that saved the Roman line

The Council of Constance opened on 5 November 1414, under the authority of Sigismund, King of the Romans and of Hungary (he would not be crowned emperor until 1433) and the Pisan pope John XXIII (successor of Alexander V). The canonical problem remained: an ecumenical council requires a valid pontifical convocation. But John XXIII fled as soon as he felt the assembly turn against him, and was deposed on 29 May 1415.^[68][69]

The solution came from Gregory XII, in a gesture of remarkable juridical subtlety. He sent to Constance two legates invested with full powers: Cardinal Giovanni Dominici (John Dominici) and Prince Carlo Malatesta. By a first bull, Gregory XII reconvened the council in his name and authorized its future acts, thereby affirming that he was the legitimate pope and conferring upon the assembly the canonical status it lacked. Only after this convocation did he consent to withdraw: the Roman line was not suffering deposition, it was freely accomplishing its sacrifice.^[70][71][72]

4 July 1415: the cession by Carlo Malatesta

By a second bull, Gregory XII empowered Carlo Malatesta to renounce the papacy in his name, promising to hold as "ratified, approved and firm" (in Latin "ratum, gratum et firmum") and forever irrevocable whatever his procurator accomplished. The ceremony took place during the fourteenth session, on 4 July 1415, presided over by Sigismund: Cardinal Dominici read the bull by which Gregory XII convened the council and authorized its future acts; the reunion of the two obediences was then proclaimed; the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia (Viviers) took the presidency, and Carlo Malatesta, in the name of Gregory XII, pronounced the abdication, handing its written text to the assembly, which accepted it.^[73][74]

Distinct from this Constance ceremony, the personal laying aside of the insignia took place when the news arrived: informed on 19 July of what had been accomplished on 4 July, Gregory XII, in a final consistory which he himself chose to convene, stripped himself on 20 July of the symbols of pontifical power to don the cardinal's habit.^[75]

The act was without equivalent: not a fall, but a renunciation consented for the common good. A legitimate pope freely laid down his office to restore unity to the Church: this is what radically distinguishes Gregory XII from the antipopes deposed at Constance.

Cardinal-Bishop of Porto and legate of Ancona

In recognition of his sacrifice, the council honoured the former pope. Once more Angelo Correr, he was made Cardinal-Bishop of Porto and Santa Rufina, with the first rank after the pope, "cardinale vescovo di Porto con il primo rango dopo il papa", according to Treccani, Dean of the Sacred College, and perpetual legate of the March of Ancona, the same province he had governed ten years earlier. (The post-abdication see remains debated: Salvador Miranda gives Frascati, "cardinal bishop of Frascati and the rank immediately after the pope", followed by a passage of the English Wikipedia which contradicts itself by giving Porto elsewhere, and the website of the diocese of Frascati devotes a notice to Angelo Correr among its bishops; but Treccani and the Catholic Encyclopedia agree on Porto.)^{[76][77][78][79]}

Withdrawal to the March of Ancona

Relieved of the pontifical burden, Angelo Correr withdrew to the March of Ancona, of which he was legate, and returned to Recanati at the beginning of 1416. He spent his last months there in peaceful dignity, aloof from the quarrels still agitating the council over the case of Benedict XIII, who stubbornly refused to yield, entrenched in the fortress of Peñíscola.^[80][81]

Death "in the odour of sanctity" before unity restored

Angelo Correr died at Recanati on 18 October 1417, "in the odour of sanctity" according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. He died without having seen unity restored: only on 11 November 1417, nearly a month after his death, did the Council of Constance elect Martin V (Oddone Colonna), ending the Western Schism. But he had made that unity possible by his abdication.^[82][83]

Here are the main stages of a pontificate entirely stretched toward its own effacement:

The last pope buried outside Rome

Angelo Correr was buried in San Flaviano Cathedral in Recanati, where his tomb still rests. By this detail, Gregory XII holds one more distinction: he is the last legitimate pope whose burial remains outside Rome: all subsequent popes rest in Rome today, even though Pius VI, who died in exile at Valence in 1799, was first buried there before his body was transferred to Rome in 1802.^[84][85][86]

Why the Church counts him among the legitimate popes

The Catholic Church recognizes Gregory XII as a legitimate pope, the last of the Roman line before Martin V. The criterion is not geographical but juridical: the Roman line goes back to the regular election of Urban VI in 1378, whereas the Avignon (Benedict XIII) and Pisan (Alexander V, John XXIII) popes are held to be antipopes. The Annuario Pontificio counts neither in the apostolic succession.^[87][88]

The sign of Martin V's delayed election

One detail is often noted in support of Roman legitimacy: Martin V was elected only after Gregory XII's death, "which many took as an indication that Gregory had been the true pope." This reading is the formula of the English Wikipedia ("which many took as an indication that Gregory had been the true pope"), the only consulted source to report it: no historian cited here elevates it into proof, and the article draws from it no canonical rule about the impossibility of electing a successor while the predecessor lives.^[89]

John XXIII: a name made available

The most public proof of this judgment is read in the numbering of the popes, but it is a late one. Until the mid-1940s, the Annuario Pontificio itself listed Gregory XII's reign as ending in 1409, followed by Alexander V (1409-1410) and John XXIII (1410-1415): it then recognized the decisions of the Council of Pisa. According to the secondary syntheses consulted, which place the change between the 1946 and 1947 editions of the Annuario (the paper copies were not directly consulted here), the new presentation was already established in 1947, eleven years before Roncalli's election: the later editions extend Gregory XII's reign to 1415 and hold Alexander V and the first John XXIII to be antipopes^[90]. When Angelo Roncalli was elected in 1958, he took the name of John XXIII, even though a John XXIII had already existed in the fifteenth century, the Pisan pope deposed at Constance. In his address accepting the supreme pontificate, on 28 October 1958, he declared: "there are counted twenty-two Supreme Pontiffs of the name of John; almost all lived only briefly in the pontificate"^[91]. This choice of name and this count publicly confirmed, after the fact, the presentation already adopted by the Annuario since 1947. The text of 1958 mentions neither the fifteenth-century John XXIII nor the legitimacy dispute, and it does not allow attributing to Roncalli the intention of settling it.^[92]

The precedent invoked in 2013

When Benedict XVI announced his renunciation, on 11 February 2013, effective on 28 February 2013, the whole world discovered that no pope had renounced since Gregory XII in 1415. Yet the two acts differ profoundly: Gregory XII, pressed by the circumstances of the schism, but by an act which the sources present as free, abdicated by procurator to restore unity to a torn Church; Benedict XVI renounced in person, citing declining strength due to age. But both share the same underlying conviction: the charge of Peter is not a possession, and may be laid down when the good of the Church commands it.^[93]

Distinguishing Gregory XII from Celestine V

The precedents are often confused. To be exact, two figures must be distinguished:

• Gregory XII (1415) is the last pope to have renounced before Benedict XVI, the chronological and juridical precedent.
• Celestine V (1294) is the hermit pope whose voluntary renunciation once struck minds, and it is toward him that Benedict XVI's devotion is documented: the laying of his pallium on Celestine's tomb at L'Aquila, in April 2009, without the official report establishing that he thereby meant to designate a precedent of renunciation.

The parallel between Gregory XII and Benedict XVI is thus historical (the most recent renunciation), while that with Celestine V is devotional. This distinction avoids a frequent error: no comparable gesture of piety toward Gregory XII is attested in the consulted sources, it is toward Celestine V that Benedict XVI's devotion is documented.^[94]

There remains, beyond these nuances, a common lesson. From Gregory XII to Benedict XVI, the Church bears witness that care for her unity and good can lead a pope to self-effacement. The humble old man of Recanati, elected to disappear and faithful to that sacrifice, remains, after Celestine V, a moving witness.

• The Western Schism (1378-1417), the general context: two then three popes, the Council of Constance, the way out of the crisis.
• Pope John XVIII (1003-1009), a debated case of papal renunciation, four centuries earlier: death in monastic habit is attested only by two German sources, without any other contemporary testimony.^[95]
• Papal renunciation, history and theology of a rare act in the Catholic Church.
• The Council of Constance (1414-1418), the assembly that ended the schism and raised the question of conciliarism.
• Conciliarism, the doctrine born of the schism and its rejection by the Church.
• Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447), Gabriele Condulmer, nephew of Gregory XII, future opponent of conciliarism at Florence.