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Pope Innocent X (Latin: Innocentius X), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was Pope from 15 September 1644 to his death in 1655.
Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle Girolamo Pamphilj as auditor of the Rota, and like him, attaining the dignity of Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio, in 1629.
Trained as a lawyer, he succeeded Pope Urban VIII on 15 September 1644, as one of the most politically shrewd pontiffs of the era, who greatly increased the temporal power of the Holy See.
Innocent X died 7 January 1655, and at the conclave of 1655 was succeeded by Pope Alexander VII. | 
