Pope Saint Leo X |
Pope Saint Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) was Bishop of Rome from 1513 to 1521. Of the powerful and prominent Medici family of Florence, St. Leo was the second son of the famed Lorenzo de' Medici, Lord of Florence. The Papa-Catholicos is his temporal and spiritual successor as Florentine Archfather.
St. Leo became a cardinal in 1489 and was elected Pope following St. Julius II. He oversaw the end of the Fifth Lateran Council and issued the Papal bull Exsurge Domine against Martin Luther and the budding Protestant Reformation.
The construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica continued significantly under his pontificate. Like his father, he was a great patron of the arts. One important example is the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican, which constitute the official titular residence of the Florentine-Roman Papa within the Vatican (the Quirinale being the principle Roman palace of the Stato Pontificio). He is buried in Santa Maria sopra la Minerva, in Rome.