[note 1] Perhaps one of the best scholars to sit on the papal throne, yet often overlooked, he promoted scientific learning, the Baroque arts, reinvigoration of Thomism, and the study of the human form.

Firmly committed to carrying out the decrees of the Council of Trent and authentic Catholic teaching, Benedict removed changes previously made to the Breviary, sought peacefully to reverse growing secularism in European courts, invigorated ceremonies with great pomp, and throughout his life and his reign published numerous theological and ecclesiastical treatises.

Horace Walpole described him as "loved by papists, esteemed by Protestants, a priest without insolence or interest, a prince without favorites, a pope without nepotism, an author without vanity, a man whom neither intellect nor power could corrupt.

[9] On 12 June 1724, only two weeks after his election, Pope Benedict XIII appointed Lambertini titular bishop of Theodosiopolis in Arcadia.

[12] In 1718, the Istituto delle scienze ed Arti Liberali in Bologna had begun construction of a chapel for everyday convenience dedicated to the Annunication of the Virgin Mary.

Lambertini also ordered and paid for the painting above the main altar, an image of the Virgin being greeted by the angel, the work of Marcantonio Franceschini.

Once he became pope, Lambertini remembered his former diocese, sending an annual gift to the Church of Ancona, of sacred vessels of gold or silver, altar appointments, vestments, and other items.

[18] During his time as archbishop, he composed an extensive treatise in three volumes, De synodo dioecesana, on the subject of the diocesan synod, presenting a synthesis of the history, Canon Law, practices, and procedures for the holding of those important meetings of the clergy of each diocese.

In mid-August, Albani asked the leader of the Imperialist faction, Cardinal Niccolò del Giudice, to give a thought to Lambertini.

[30] The apostolic constitution Pastoralis Romani Pontificis,[31] which was Benedict's revision of the traditional In Coena Domini anathematization, was promulgated on 30 March 1741.

[32] Its most stringent clause was §20:[33] We excommunicate all those who shall by themselves or others, directly or indirectly, under whatever title or pretext, presume to invade, destroy, occupy and detain, wholly or in part, the City of Rome, the Kingdom of Sicily, the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, the territories on this side of Lesina[clarification needed], the patrimony of St. Peter in Tuscany, the Duchy of Spoleto, the Counties of Venaissin, and Sabina, the March of Ancona, Massa Trebaria, Romagna, Campagna, and the maritime provinces and their territories and places, and the territories under special commission of the Arnulfi, and our cities of Bologna, Cesena, Rimini, Benevento, Perugia, Avignon, Citta di Castello, Todi, Ferrara, Comachio, and other cities, territories and places, or rights, belonging to the Roman Church, and mediately or immediately subject to the said Roman Church; and likewise those who presume to usurp de facto, to disturb, to retain, or in various ways to trouble, the supreme jurisdiction, belonging in them to Us and to the said Roman Church; and likewise their adherents, patrons, and protectors, or those who aid, counsel or abet them in any way whatsoever.This clause, if applied, excommunicated the governments of Spain, France, and the Habsburg monarchy, in addition to lesser princes who held, without papal grant or investiture, territory claimed by the Papacy.

Its application to the Duchy of Parma by Pope Clement XIII in 1768 had major consequences, including the beginning of expulsions of Jesuits from European states.

In 1741, on the advice of Cardinal Aldovrandini (who had nearly been elected pope instead of Benedict), he instituted a new tax, a duty on stamped paper on legal documents; it did not produce the revenue expected, and it was abolished in 1743.

[37] Despite these fiscal problems, the Papacy was able to buy two frigates in Britain, and in April 1745 Benedict personally christened a galley, named the Benedetta, which he had ordered constructed.

[38] He encouraged agriculture and free trade and drastically cut the military budget, but was unable to completely reform the administration, still corrupt from previous papacies.

On 22 December 1741, Benedict XIV issued the Bull Immensa Pastorum Principis and sent an Apostolic Brief to the Bishops of Brazil and King John V of Portugal, against the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and other countries.

[39] The Apostolic constitution Sacramentum Poenitentiae of 1741[40] assigned to the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition the responsibility of safeguarding the sanctity of the sacrament of penance.

[43] Benedict XIV was also responsible, along with Cardinal Domenico Silvio Passionei, for beginning the catalogue of the oriental manuscripts in the Vatican Library.

In 1741 the collection of manuscripts relating to Chinese religion and history were left to the Vatican Library by bequest of Fouchet, a one-time missionary.

In the Bull Quemadmodum ingenti of 4 August 1741, Benedict entrusted their care to the one Coptic bishop who was in union with Rome, the Patriarch Athanasius of Jerusalem, who was given extensive powers to supervise uniate Copts in Egypt.

Perhaps the most important act of Benedict XIV's pontificate was the promulgation of his famous laws about missions in the two bulls, Ex quo singulari (11 July 1742),[54] and Omnium sollicitudinum (12 September 1744).

[55] In these bulls he ruled on the custom of accommodating non-Christian words and usages to express Christian ideas and practices of the native cultures, which had been extensively done by the Jesuits in their Indian and Chinese missions.

[57] The Capuchins, under the leadership of Italian priest Giuseppe Maria Bernini, grew the community of Bettiah Christians in colonial India.

[58] He was invited to spread Catholic Christianity by Maharaja Dhurup Singh of the Bettiah Raj, an appointment that was blessed by Pope Benedict XIV on 1 May 1742 in a personal letter to the king.

Furthermore, the pope called upon Saint Leonard of Port Maurice to preach; both had a close relationship and the year previously saw Benedict XIV ask him to give sermons on penance and conversion in Rome.

Among the initiatives that the pope designed for the Jubilee were the call for Christian unity and organizing for proper accommodation for those pilgrims who flocked to Rome.

Upon the advice of Saint Leonard, the pope was the first to institute the Via Crucis at the Colosseum, which he consecrated as a site of martyrdom for the early Christians.

When the copy of the inscription was forwarded to Rome for approval, Benedict XIV smiled upon reading it and, shaking his head, exclaimed: "Alas!

"[65] Despite those words, the pope is alleged to have recited the famous Latin phrase "Sic transit gloria mundi" before poignantly adding "I now fall into silence and forgetfulness, the only place that belongs to me".