A church office with political weight
A cardinal was not merely a senior cleric: cardinals advised the pope and, when a pope died, chose his successor. Making Cesare Borgia a cardinal therefore placed Alexander VI’s son inside the Church’s highest circle, where religious authority and Italian politics were closely intertwined.
In 1493, Alexander appointed the 18-year-old Cesare to the College of Cardinals. The appointment reflected a familiar papal practice: promoting relatives into powerful church positions. For a pope, family members could serve as dependable allies in a world where rival Italian rulers, noble families, and foreign powers competed for influence. The scarlet robes made the arrangement look like a church appointment; the influence attached to the office made it a political asset as well.
Cesare leaves the Church for a different kind of power
The cardinalate was not Cesare’s final destination. After his brother Juan was murdered, Cesare gave up his church office in 1498 and turned toward a secular career. He became a military leader, with his father’s papacy providing crucial political backing.
That shift shows what the appointment had accomplished—and what it had not. The office had elevated Cesare and connected him to the center of papal power, but he ultimately pursued authority through armies and territorial rule instead. For the Borgias, a cardinal’s hat could be a platform for family power, not a lifelong calling.
