The Children of Adam and Eve

He was among the most extravagant of Renaissance Popes. Originally named
Giovanni de' Medici. He was made a cardinal deacon at the age of 13 and
elected Pope at 37. He was an able administrator and skillful in politics
and foreign affairs. He succeeded in driving the invading French out of
Italy but in 1515 was defeated by Francis I, king of France. In 1516 the
relations of the papacy with France were settled through a concordat,
whereby the independence of the Gallican Church (sometimes referred to as
Gallicanism) was ended. The king, However, received the power to name
Bishops and other high Church officials, who were then assured of
appointment despite the Pope's theoretical power of veto. By Leo's
efforts, the papacy became the dominant political force in Italy. The
Fifth Lateran Council was concluded (1517) in Leo's pontificate; among its
actions were ratification of the concordat with France and the
establishment of a system of book censorship.

Leo was Brought up in the Medici tradition of scholarship and appreciation
of arts and letters, and his fame rests More on his role as a patron of
the arts than as an ecclesiastical figure. He spent huge sums on projects
carried out by such masters as Raphael and Bramante. His extravagances as
a patron of arts, as in the rebuilding of Saint Peter's Basilica, and the
pomp of his court were indirectly responsible for the Reformation
movement. The sale of indulgences by the German monk Johann Tetzel and the
indignant response of Martin Luther in 1517 set in motion the upheaval
that created Protestantism. Leo condemned the Lutheran heresies and
excommunicated Luther and his followers in 1520.