An issue of significance to John concerned the rank and appointment of the Apostolic Nuncio in Portugal, which the king wished to be raised to the dignity of a crown-cardinal and demanded input in the selection process. Both Clement XI and Innocent XIII had denied John's requests and Benedict XIII had failed to mediate a resolution. Only during the fourth papacy of John's reign was the issue resolved, when Pope Clement XII acquiesced to the king's demands, in 1730, elevating the Portuguese nunciature to the dignity shared only with France, Austria, and Spain. John's last pope and Clement XII's successor, Pope Benedict XIV, had a markedly better relation with the king, granting the king his desired recognition as a lawful Christian monarch. In 1748, the pope awarded the title of "Most Faithful Majesty" to John and his successors.