Gaspar de Borja y Velasco

Gaspar de Borja y Velasco (26 June 1580 – 28 December 1645) was a Spanish cardinal, ecclesiastic and politician. He belonged to the house of Borgia (though he always used the Spanish spelling of Borja) and served as Primate of Spain, Archbishop of Seville, Archbishop of Toledo and viceroy of Naples.

Borja was born at Villalpando. His father was Francisco Tomás de Borja y Centellas, 6th Duke of Gandia, the son of Francis Borgia (4th Duke of Gandia and 3rd Father-General of the Society of Jesus) and thus related to Pope Callixtus III and Pope Alexander VI - one historian refers to Gaspar wanting to become the third Borgia pope. Gaspar's mother was Juana Enríquez de Velasco y de Aragón, daughter of Iñigo Tovar y Fernández de Velasco, 4th Duke of Frías and 10th Constable of Castile.

He graduated from the Universidad Complutense, in the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, with a degree in Theology. He owed his rise through the church hierarchy to Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, a favourite in the court of Philip III. He was made a cardinal in August 1611 by Pope Paul V, as cardinal priest of Santa Susanna, and stayed in Rome to exercise his office. He was indignant when the minor nobleman Cardinal Gabriel Trejo Paniagua was chosen as Spain's crown-cardinal instead of him and, when Trejo lost political influence after his patron's fall, Borja played an even greater part in the Roman Curia. He supported the crown-cardinal Antonio Zapata y Cisneros, served a first term as Spain's ambassador to the Holy See (1616–19), participated in the Holy Office, attended the papal conclaves in 1621 and 1623, and held the posts of Camerlengo (1627–28) and Bishop of Albano (1630–1645).

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