Pope Innocent XI was an outstanding Bishop of the Catholic
Church and Pope from 1676 to 1689. He spent most of his adult life
helping the poor. Upon his election as Pope, he took on the
enormous task of reducing the annual deficit of the Curia, and
actually within a few years had all expenses under the income of
the Vatican. He struggled with the absolutism of King Louis XIV of
France. King Louis, in an effort to appear a zealous Catholic
undertook a ruthless extermination of protestants. Pope Innocent
expressed his extreme displeasure and continued to bring the King
in line.
Pope Innocent was intent on preserving the purity of faith and
morals among the clergy and the faithful. He insisted on a thorough
education and an exemplary life of the clergy, reformed the
monasteries of Rome, issued guidelines on women's dress, suppressed
gambling houses, and encouraged frequent and even daily Communion.
He suppressed laxism in moral theology, condemned probabilism,
condemned Quietistic propositions and in general was an outstanding
Pope.