Nepotism had characterized many previous pontificates; open paternity was to characterize his, for he was the first Pope who, in flagrant violation of canon law, acknowledged his children for his own.

He proceeded to provide for some seven bastards, and that provision appears to have been the only aim and scope of his pontificate.
Not content with raising money by the sale of preferments, Innocent established a traffic in indulgences, the like of which had never been seen before.

In the Rome of his day you might, had you the money, buy anything, from a cardinal's hat to a pardon for the murder of your father.
The most conspicuous of his bastards was Francesco Cibo--conspicuous chiefly for the cupidity which distinguished him as it distinguished the Pope his father.

For the rest he was a poor-spirited fellow who sorely disappointed Lorenzo de'Medici, whose daughter Maddalena he received in marriage.

Lorenzo had believed that, backed by the Pope's influence, Francesco would establish for himself a dynasty in Romagna.