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Pope Leo X

(1475–1510)

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Pope Leo X

Leo was born Giovanni Damaso Romolo De’Medici in Florence. He was the second son of Lorenzo De’Medici (The Magnificent), the richest and most powerful family in all Italy.

Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts, often supporting talented painters and sculptors and even having them live in his palace. When Giovanni was fifteen, a young artist named Michelangelo practiced his skills for nearly two years under the Medici roof.

Giovanni was prepared for an ecclesiastical career receiving tonsure in 1482, and in 1483 was made abbot of Font Douce in the French Diocese. His sister’s father-in-law, Pope Innocent VIII, appointed him a cardinal in 1489, but he was only thirteen and could not officially take his place in office until 1492. In the same year he earned a doctorate in canon law.

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