Pope Benedict XIV

Prospero Lambertini of Bologna is widely regarded as one of the most learned and humane popes of the era. A canon-law scholar whose treatise on beatification and canonization remains a reference, he combined wit, moderation, and openness to the sciences—corresponding with Enlightenment figures including Voltaire and reforming the censorship of books. He negotiated pragmatic concordats with Catholic monarchies, founded academies, and promoted scholarship and the arts. In the Chinese and Malabar Rites controversies he upheld earlier prohibitions, ending the disputes firmly. Esteemed even by Protestants and skeptics for his reasonableness and tolerance, Benedict XIV embodied a Catholicism engaged, rather than at war, with its age.