Was Pope Leo X politically involved?

Answer 1

A:

All popes from the Middle Ages and even beyond were political. Giovanni de Medici, who became Pope Leo X, was an immensely wealthy member of an important ruling family in Italy. To become pope, he had to give up the lordship of Florence, but ensured that the rule passed to another member of the Medici family.

As pope, Leo X played off the Spanish rulers in the south of the Italian peninsula against the French rulers in the north. He married his brother Guiliano to a French princess and made over to him the entire income of Parma, Piacenza and Modena, which had recently been incorporated into the Papal States. In 1517 he led a costly war that succeeded in securing his nephew, Lorenzo, as duke of Urbino, at considerable cost to the papal finances.

As feudal lord of the Papal States, the pope was entitled to depose any vassal he deemed unsuitable. Della Rovere had been lukewarm in support of Leo's military campaigns, and so both deposed and excommunicated him.