Studied law in Bologna.
Doctor of law in 1544.
Secretary to Cardinal Nicolo Ardinghelli.
Secretary to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.
Ecclesiastical representative to the archdiocese of Avignon.
Bishop of Nicastro, Calabria in 1560.
Attended the Council of Trent in 1562.
Papal nuncio to Venice for PopePius V in 1566 where he helped secure the alliance of the Vatican, Venice and Spain against the Turks.
He returned to Nicastro in 1572, but resigned his see and moved to Rome.
Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1575.
Cardinal-Priest of the Title of the Four Crowned Martyrs on 12 December1583.
Papal administrator during the reign of PopeGregory XIV whose poor health kept him from daily duties.
Pope for two months when he was already and old man with failing health.
Innocent supported the Catholic League and King Phillip II of Spain against King Henry IV of France.
He prohibited the alienation of church property, planned the creation of a large reserve fund in order to respond to emergencies, broke the secretariat of state into three sections in order to weaken the power of the beurocracy, helped feed the poor in Rome, supported efforts to put down highway bandits, and left a number of unpublished writings on theological and philosophical topics.
