Educated at Cologne, Spinola entered the Franciscan Order there and for some time taught philosophy and theology.
He submitted his plan of reunion, Regulae circa Christianorum, omnium ecclesiasticum reunionem, to the conference, where it received approval.
Nevertheless, Innocent XI did not act on the plan, which the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia attributes to a combination of French influence and Spinola's concessions.
[1] About the same time, the Helmstedt theologians, represented by Gerhard Wolter Molanus, put forward their Methodus reducendae unionis.
The concessions which he now made to the Protestants of Austria-Hungary, such as Communion under both species, freedom for priests to marry, Mass in the German language, and suspension of the Tridentine decrees until a new council was held, were rejected by Rome.