Pope Clement XIII

Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico became Pope Clement XIII on 6 July 1758 and was installed ten days later. From the start, European courts pressed him to suppress the Society of Jesus, the Church's most powerful teaching and missionary order. He refused repeatedly, championing the Jesuits even as France, Spain, and Portugal expelled them and severed diplomatic ties. Clement also sought reconciliation with Protestants in England and the Low Countries, hoping to heal old schisms through dialogue - a rare stance for an eighteenth-century pope, though the outreach went nowhere. He died on 2 February 1769, just weeks before a summit where the Bourbon monarchs planned to force his hand. His successor would dissolve the Jesuits four years later.