Niccolò Coscia

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Niccolò Coscia (1681 - February 8, 1755) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.

He was born at Pietradefusi, near Avellino. In 1725 he was appointed as Cardinal of Santa Maria in Domnica by Pope Benedict XIII, of whom he had been secretary when the future pope was archbishop of Benevento.

Coscia held the effective government of the Papal States during Benedict's reign. He took advantage of his position to commit a long series of financial abuses, causing the ruin of the Papal treasure. According to Montesquieu, "All the money of Rome go to Benevento... as the Beneventani direct [Benedict's] weakness"^[1].

When Benedict died, he fled from Rome. In 1731 he was trialled, excommunicated and condemned to ten year of imprisonment in Castel Sant'Angelo. Coscia however managed to commute it into a financial fee. Restored, he took part to the conclaves of 1725 and 1730.

He died in Naples in 1755.

[edit] References

• Rendina, Claudio (1993). I papi. Storia e segreti. Rome: Newton Compton. 

[edit] Footnotes