Page "Pope Clement VIII" Paragraph 2

He was made Cardinal-Priest of S. Pancrazio in 1585 by Pope Gregory XIII.

Pope Sixtus V named him major penitentiary in January 1586 and in 1588 sent him as legate in Poland.

He placed himself under the direction of the reformer Philip Neri, who for thirty years was his confessor.

Aldobrandini won the gratitude of the Habsburgs by his successful diplomatic efforts in Poland to obtain the release of the imprisoned Archduke Maximilian, the defeated claimant to the Polish throne.