Papacy (Early Modern and Modern Church History)

After the initial diffidence, the diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the pontificate of Leo XII (1823-1829) gradually improved. The cordial relationships, although short-lived, established between the Pope and Ferdinand I of Bourbon (died in early January 1825) and even more the bonds of affection with his son Francis I allowed to further strengthen the alliance between Throne and Altar and to solve various political and ecclesial problems in the Southern Italy.

Les Belles Lettres, 2018, 482 p. 26,90 € Ce livre d'Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, un éminent historien de la papauté, analyse la fonction symbolique des nombreux animaux qui ont accompagné l'histoire de cette dernière des origines à nos jours. L'auteur dévoile le riche bestiaire pontifical, qui a permis de légitimer l'autorité du pape, mais qui a aussi servi à ses détracteurs. La colombe, qui figure le Saint-Esprit puis la paix, désigne parfois, par son vol plongeant, le nouveau pape. Le dragon, le basilic et le serpent, souvent sculptés sur les chaires pontificales, symbolisent l'affirmation du pouvoir papal. Le cheval blanc représente une sorte de double du pontife. La brebis et l'agneau, comme le phénix, sont fortement liés au « bon pasteur » que doit incarner le vicaire du Christ. On trouve enfin des animaux plus exotiques : le lion ailé, le griffon, le léopard, le chameau, le rhinocéros et l'éléphant. Au xvie siècle, ce bestiaire a été habilement convoqué par les ennemis du pape (Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Lucas Cranach) pour discréditer son autorité et alimenter des satires antipontificales. L'«âne-pape » est l'image antipapale par excellence et, dans les marges des manuscrits enluminés, de nombreuses drôleries (petits chiens, serpents, singes ou figures hybrides) portent la tiare et tourne le pape en dérision. Cet ouvrage nous offre une histoire symbolique, plaisante et originale de la papauté, et révèle de quelle manière le bestiaire du pape a été utilisé pour construire une souveraineté et pour la critiquer. DIDIER LETT

This essay reconstructs the story of hidden collaborations between the Amsterdam bookseller Johannes Janssonius and the Roman Inquisition in 1660. It provides evidence that the papacy tacitly permitted the circulation of an explicitly Copernican book at a surprisingly early date and that the Protestant publisher was eager to curry favor with the Holy Office by secretly submitting texts to Catholic censorship. Building on recent scholarship that depicts Catholic censors as mediators between the Church and Italian authors, the essay argues that, in the second half of the seventeenth century, they came to play a similar role in an international, multiconfessional context. Censorship should not be construed merely as an external force, impeding the creation and communication of knowledge; it was an integral component of the European in- formation order, shaping scholarship and how it moved. The Holy Office was a node in the Republic of Letters.

From the time of Pilate’s assertion of jurisdiction in Christ’s trial and Jesus’ teaching that such jurisdiction had been granted from above (John 19:10-11), sacerdotium et regnum have had a wax-and-wane relationship in their power claims. While the development of the doctrine of Petrine Primacy along purely theological lines is certainly a crucial backdrop for the unfolding historical drama, it is not the task of this paper to outline such development. Rather, this paper will focus specifically upon the jurisprudential development of the Papacy’s claims of plenitudo potestatis—primacy, independence, and at times supremacy in legal and temporal affairs, both canonic and civil.  From Christ’s mandate to St. Peter Tu es Petrus and the canons of local synods to the juridic claims regarding Pontiff and Church vis-à-vis the civil power contained in the Latin Code of 1917, this paper will follow the canonical development of Petrine Primacy of jurisdiction and the bearings of such upon rights of judgment and legation in temporal affairs.

Published in 2016 the post-synodal apostolic exhortation of the Pope Francis “Amoris laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), which led to the controversial discussions not only among the Vatican theologians, catechists and moralists, but has become a subject of debate at universities, in the circles of secular Catholic theologians, on the pages of church journalism and in theological book , is examined. A text dedicated to the problems of family, marriage relationships and love is analyzed. The problem of interpretation of the second marriage and the issue of the admission to the Holy Communion sacrament of people, who went through an annulment process of sacred marriage, are highlighted. The interpretation of the content of “Amoris laetitia” in the debate between the bishops of Poland, Germany, Argentina, the Philippines, Belgium and Malta, who revived the long-standing dispute over the authority of the Roman High Priest and his role and place in today’s Christianity.

Trent’anni dopo la conclusione del concilio, Giuseppe Alberigo osservava come, dopo la sua conclusione, il concilio di Trento avesse trovato in Carlo Borromeo «uno straordinario protagonista della propria attuazione […]. Forse il Vaticano II, concepito da un santo Papa come Giovanni XXIII, attende ancora il protagonista della sua ricezione». Solo gli storici del dopodomani potranno dire se Bergoglio è stato "il" protagonista della ricezione del Vaticano II: ma sin da ora possiamo senz'altro affermare che è un protagonista di primo livello di questo affascinante e impegnativo processo, ben lungi dalla sua conclusione

That the French Revolution was the product of a vast anti-religious conspiracy was a commonplace of counterrevolutionary writing already in 1790. However, it was only after the beginning of the European wars in 1792 that Catholic intellectuals explicitly started conceiving the fight against revolutionary France as a war of religion. This paper traces the transnational development of this idea, from its origins in the Spain of the War of the Pyrenees to its re-elaboration in Francisco Gustà’s Critical Essay on the Crusades, published in Italy in 1794. A Catalan ex-Jesuit, Gustà exhorted Pope Pius VI to launch a modern crusade against revolutionary France. A close analysis of this text and of its reception reveals how the preaching of a modern crusade led to the emergence of some of the defining features of Catholic conservatism: the myth of medieval Christendom as an alternative to revolutionary modernity; the role of the pope—the only authority who could legitimately launch a crusade—as a supranational leader; and the need for mass mobilization in defense of religion. Thus, this paper argues that what characterized Catholic conservatism from its very inception was the inextricable entanglement of modern means and anti-modern ideals.