Pope Gregory X (born Teobaldo Visconti) was the overarching antagonist in the TV Series, 'Marco Polo.' He was the pope of the Roman Catholic Church. At the time, he was in Acre, which was under Christian control at the time, and meets with Prince Nayan and Niccolò Polo, Marco's father.
In Real Life[]
Pope Gregory X (c.1210 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1 September 1271 to his death in 1276 and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was elected at the conclusion of a papal election that ran from 1268 to 1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
He convened the Second Council of Lyons and also made new regulations in regards to papal conclaves. Though briefly annulled by Pope Adrian V and Pope John XXI, these regulations remained in force until the 20th century,Pope Pius VI, in 1798, in consideration of the occupation of Rome by the French, dispensed the Cardinals from many of the conclave regulations, including those of Gregory X: (Pietro Baldassari, Relazione delle aversita e patimenti del glorioso Papa Pio VI negli ultimi tre anni del suo pontificato (Roma: Tipografia poliglotta del S.C. di Propaganda Fide, 1889) II, pp. 297-302). Pope Pius IX, in 1878, in fear that the Italians might invade the Vatican on his death and try to prevent or dominate a conclave, gave Cardinals great latitude in the regulating of the next conclave: Agostino Ceccaroni, Il conclavo (Torino-Roma 1901), pp. 85-129. The rule on bread and water was relaxed, and then ignored at nearly every conclave.when they were altered by Pope Paul VI.
Pope Clement XI beatified him in 1713 after the confirmation of his cultus.