Ferdinando Ponzetti
Ferdinando Ponzetti was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.Biography
Ferdinando Ponzetti was born in Florence in 1444, the son of a noble Neapolitan family. He studied Christian theology, philosophy, Greek, Latin and medicine.
He was the personal physician of Pope Innocent VIII. He was then Lector of the Audience of lettere Contraddette. He was an Apostolic Secretary under Pope Alexander VI and Pope Julius II. He then joined the Apostolic Camera, serving as its dean, president, and treasurer in 1513.
On April 20, 1517, he was elected Bishop of Molfetta. He was consecrated as a bishop in the Vatican in camera superiore by Pope Leo X.
Pope Leo X made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of July 1, 1517. He received the red hat and the titular church of San Pancrazio.
He resigned the administration of the see of Molfetta to his nephew Giacomo Ponzetta on July 12, 1518. He participated in the papal conclave of 1521-22 that elected Pope Adrian VI. On December 22, 1522, he was transferred to the see of Grosseto, occupying this see until resigning on February 25, 1527. He participated in the papal conclave of 1523 that elected Pope Clement VII. He lost all of his wealth during the Bourbon sack of Rome in 1526.
Following mistreatment by imperial soldiers during the Sack of Rome, he died in Rome on September 9, 1527. He is buried in Santa Maria della Pace.
