Pope Alexander VIII (; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the last pope to take the pontifical name of "Alexander" upon his election to the papacy. Alexander VIII is known for having overturned many of the policies of his predecessor, Innocent XI, deciding to indulge in nepotism in order to further enrich his family. Such nepotism exhausted the papal treasury, later forcing his successor, Innocent XII, to implement austere measures to restore the papal coffers. Despite his brief papacy, during which little of importance was undertaken, Alexander VIII is known for having condemned the doctrines of the so-called philosophical sin which was being taught in schools run by the Society of Jesus. Also during his papacy, King Louis XIV of France restored Avignon to the Holy See as a territory of the Papal States. Biography Early life Pietro Vito Ottoboni was born in 1610 of a noble Venetian family, and was the youngest of nine children of Vittoria Tornielli and Marco Ottoboni, grand chancellor of the Republic of Venice. His early studies were made with marked brilliance at the University of Padua where, in 1627, he earned a doctorate in canon and civil law. Ottoboni went to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII and served as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura, and later was the governor of the cities Terni, Rieti, Citta di Castello and Spoleto. He also served as the auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota. Episcopate and cardinalate Pope Innocent X appointed him to the cardinalate and in 1652 at the request of the Venetian government and he was made the Cardinal-Priest of San Salvatore in Lauro. He was appointed as Bishop of Brescia in 1654 and later received episcopal consecration in the church of San Marco in Rome. He would spend a quiet decade in his diocese. He opted to be Cardinal-Priest of San Marco in 1660 and resigned as Bishop of Brescia in 1664. Ottoboni also opted to become Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere in 1677 and later as Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede in 1680. He later became the Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina in 1681 and then to Frascati in 1683. His last swap was that of Porto e Santa Rufina in