Camillo Astalli

Most Reverend Camillo Astalli-Pamphilj
Cardinal Priest of San Pietro in Montorio Archbishop (personal title) of Catania
Portrait by Diego Velázquez, 1650 (Hispanic Society, New York
Church	Catholic Church
In office	1653–1662
Predecessor	Gil Carrillo de Albornoz
Successor	Celio Piccolomini
Orders
Consecration	July 25, 1661 by Federico Sforza
Created Cardinal	September 19, 1650
Rank	Cardinal Priest
Personal details
Born	1619 Rome, Italy
Died	December 21, 1663 Catania, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Previous post	Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals (1661–1662) Archbishop (personal title) of Catania (1661–1663)

Camillo Astalli (21 October 1616 – 21 December 1663) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal and Cardinal-Nephew of Pope Innocent X who served Cardinal Priest of San Pietro in Montorio (1653–1662), Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals (1661–1662), and Archbishop (personal title) of Catania (1661–1663).

Camillo Astalli belonged to a noble but relatively poor family. He was born in Sambuci, at Tivoli, 21 October 1616 to Fulvio and Catherine Pinelli Astalli. He studied at the Roman College and in 1640 graduated from the Sapienza with a doctorate in civil and ecclesiastical law, commencing a career as a consistorial lawyer. Following his brother's marriage to Catherine Maidalchini Tiberius, the niece of Olimpia Maidalchini, sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X, he began his rise in the church hierarchy. (From this a number of records refer to Maidalchini as his cousin.)

He became the assistant to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli, who proposed him for the post of cardinal-nephew, which had been left vacant in 1647 by the resignation of the Cardinal Camillo Pamphilj.

When first elected to the papal throne, Pope Innocent X had appointed his nephew, Camillo Pamphili as his Cardinal-Nephew. But Pamphili resigned his position to marry and was replaced by Francesco Maidalchini, nephew of Donna Olimpia Maidalchini. When Maidalchini proved to be a disgraceful failure, Innocent sought the advice of his Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Panciroli who suggested Astalli. So it was that Astalli was elevated to Cardinal on 19 September 1650 by the Pope, who simultaneously adopted him into the Pamphili family (as Camillo Astalli-Pamphili) and appointed him Cardinal-Nephew. Innocent also presented him with a substantial income, the Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona and the villa outside the Porta San Pancrazio.