Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus IV
Bishop of Rome
Portrait of Sixtus IV by van Gent and Berruguete, c. 1474 – 76 (oil on panel, 116 × 56.4 cm, Louvre)
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	9 August 1471
Papacy ended	12 August 1484
Predecessor	Paul II
Successor	Innocent VIII
Orders
Consecration	25 August 1471 by Guillaume d'Estouteville
Created cardinal	18 September 1467 by Paul II
Personal details
Born	Francesco della Rovere 21 July 1414 Celle Ligure, Republic of Genoa
Died	12 August 1484(1484-08-12) (aged 70) Rome, Papal States
Previous post(s)	Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor (1464–1469) Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli (1467–1471)
Coat of arms
Other popes named Sixtus

Papal styles of Pope Sixtus IV
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	None

Pope Sixtus IV (Italian: Sisto IV; born Francesco della Rovere; 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death, in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope included the construction of the Sistine Chapel and the creation of the Vatican Library. A patron of the arts, he brought together the group of artists who ushered the early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpieces of the city's new artistic age.

Sixtus founded the Spanish Inquisition through the bull Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus (1478), and he annulled the decrees of the Council of Constance. He was noted for his nepotism and was personally involved in the infamous Pazzi conspiracy, a plot to remove the Medici family from power in Florence.^[1]