Pope Gregory XV (; ; 9 January 15548 July 1623), born Alessandro Ludovisi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 February 1621 to his death in July 1623. Biography Early life Alessandro Ludovisi was born in Bologna on 9 January 1554 to Pompeo Ludovisi, the Count of Samoggia (now Savigno in the Province of Bologna) and of Camilla Bianchini. He was the third of seven children. He was educated at the Roman College run by the Society of Jesus in Rome and he then went to the University of Bologna to get degrees in canon and Roman law which he received on 4 June, 1575. His early career was as a papal jurist in Rome, and there is no evidence that he had been ordained to the priesthood. He returned to Rome in 1575 and he served as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura from 1593 to 1596 and was appointed as the Vicegerent of Rome in 1597, a position he maintained until 1598. He also served as the Auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota from 1599 to 1612. On 12 March 1612, Pope Paul V appointed him as the Archbishop of Bologna, for which he was presumably ordained to the priesthood and then he was consecrated a bishop on 1 May of that year in the church of San Andrea al Quirinale in Rome. In August 1616, the pope sent him as Apostolic Nuncio to the Duchy of Savoy, to mediate between Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Philip III of Spain in their dispute concerning the Gonzaga Marquisate of Montferrat. On 19 September 1616, Pope Paul V elevated him to the rank of cardinal and appointed him as a Cardinal Priest with the titular church of Santa Maria in Traspontina. Papacy Papal conclave Ludovisi remained in his episcopal see in Bologna until he went to Rome after the death of Pope Paul V to take part in the conclave at which he was chosen as pope and he selected the pontifical name of "Gregory XV". He was crowned on 14 February 1621 by the protodeacon, Cardinal Andrea Baroni Peretti Montalto, and assumed possession of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran on 14 May 1621. At the moment of his election, chiefly through the influence of Cardinal Borghese, at his advanced age (he was 67) and with his weak state of