Paolo Scolari was born into the influential house of Conti di Segni growing in significance in Rome during the twelfth century.

[2][3] Pope Alexander III appointed him archpriest of the patriarchal Liberian Basilica, cardinal-deacon of Sergio e Bacco, and finally cardinal bishop of Palestrina in December 1180.

[6] Two months before being elected pope, Paolo Scolari had been rejected as a papal candidate by the cardinals due to being in poor health.

[11] Clement wrote a letter to Archbishop of Toledo, Gonzalo Perez, where he bemoaned the power conflicts and political division among Spain's Christian population.

[12] The pope emphasized in this letter that the Christian war in Spain, the Reconquista, against Muslims was comparable to the Crusades in the Holy Land and urged for effective unity and the formation of a powerful army to combat them.

[11] Clement, after Alexander III prohibited supplying military information and material to Muslims, had a series of decretals increased the banned items people would be allowed to trade and called for an embargo with the Islamic world.