The first church on the site was built under Pope Julius I in the mid-4th century. Pope Pelagius I built a successor, dedicated around 570. An earthquake ruined it in 1348. Pope Martin V restored it in 1417, and Sixtus IV and Giuliano della Rovere did so from 1471 to 1484. Baccio Pontelli is credited with the 15th-century portico.
Carlo Fontana gave it a Baroque interior, completed in 1714, and Giuseppe Valadier completed the facade in 1827. The church is 246 feet (75 m) long and 130 feet (40 m) wide. Melozzo da Forlì's apse fresco was removed in 1711 when the choir was enlarged.
It is a parish church, titular church and minor basilica, and the conventual church of the Conventual Franciscans. It holds Canova's tomb of Pope Clement XIV.
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