harsh struggle against Aristotelianism. After Federico Cesi's death in 1630 he was taken under consideration as his successor for the presidency of the Academy. According to Pietro Redondi Pallavicino played a part in delaying, or deflecting, Orazio Grassi’s attack against the atomistic argument in Galileo's Assayer. In 1630 he took minor orders. Soon afterwards, the Pope Urban VIII appointed him referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signatures of Justice and of Grace and member of the Congregatio boni regiminis and of the Congregatio immunitatis, assigning him a pension of 250 scudi. When his friend Giovanni Ciampoli, the secretary of briefs, fell into disfavour, Pallavicino's standing at the papal court was also seriously affected. In 1632 he was sent to govern the provincial towns of Iesi, Orvieto, and Camerino. In contrast with Ciampoli, who died in Iesi in 1643 without ever having set foot again in Rome, Pallavicino returned there in 1636. Over his father's objections, he entered the Society of Jesus on 21 June 1637. After the two years' novitiate he became professor of philosophy at the Roman College. In 1643, when John de Lugo was made a cardinal, Pallavicino succeeded him in the chair of theology, a position he held until 1651 while also fulfilling assignments for Pope Innocent X. He was appointed member of the commission that examined the writings of Cornelius Jansen and Martin de Barcos, which resulted in the condemnation of two works by de Barcos in 1647. Sforza Pallavicino was a staunch opponent of Jansenism and a vocal supporter of the Jesuit theological tradition, and while he certainly did not oppose probabilism, which he taught in his earlier scholarly career, he did not condone its most radical outcomes either. Cardinal Pallavicino Pope Alexander VII created Pallavicino cardinal in pectore in his first creation on 9 April 1657. His appointment was made public in March 1650. He received the red hat and the title of San Salvatore in Lauro on December 6, 1660. He was also appointed examiner of the bishops, and soon afterwards a member of the Congregation of the Holy Office. As the master of the Jesuit novitiate on the Quirinal Pallavicino was closely involved in planning the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1658 onwards. In his later years Pallavicino played an active role in Italian cultural life. He became a member of the so-called pleias alessandrina,