Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 11: Pius III

Francesco Todeschini was born into the Piccolomini family of Siena through his mother (you may recognize that name from the Piccolomini Library that's part of Siena's cathedral). Francesco's uncle Aeneas Silvius took Francesco into his household and granted him use of the family name. Both the connection to his uncle and the use of the Piccolomini name helped him greatly, as Francesco was able to study canon law at Perugia and became provost of a church in Germany, an office previously held by Aeneas.

Things really took off for Francesco once his uncle became Pope Pius II, though Pius II didn't seem particularly disposed to grant Francesco favors. He did make Francesco a cardinal, though, with Francesco becoming the Archbishop of Siena and Cardinal Protector of England and Germany.

Pius II died in 1464, but Francesco didn't receive serious consideration for pope until the conclave of 1492. When the next conclave was held in 1503, the Italian Wars were in full swing, and armies from France, Aragon, and the Papal States were all threatening Rome. Rather than antagonize any particular faction, the conclave opted to vote for a senior member of the Curia who was unrelated to the factions at war: Francesco Todeschini.

Francesco took the name Pius III in honor of his uncle Pius II. However, he was too ill to attend the vote that elected him, which boded poorly for his papacy.  He took an unusual step of holding a consistory prior to his coronation, and laid out plans to bring peace and reform the church, which suggests he knew he didn't have a lot of time to work with. 

Pius III had an operation on his leg not long after his election to address an ulcer, but it wasn't successful. The ulcer went septic, and Pius died less than a month later. He held the papacy for 26 days.