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| 2. The Papacy |
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(See 1484–92)| For a complete list of the Roman popes, see Appendix IV. | 1 |
| The Florentine political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli's remark captures the moral disorder in the leadership of the Church in the earlier part of this period: “We Italians are irreligious and corrupt above others, because the Church and her representatives set us the worst example.” Most of the popes were typical products of the Renaissance, patronizing the arts, living in splendor and luxury, using their position either to aggrandize their families or to strengthen the temporal position of the Church. Of spiritual leadership there was little, yet politically and culturally the period was of the utmost importance. | 2 |
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| 1492–1503 |
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| ALEXANDER VI (Rodrigo Lanzol y Borgia), a stately, energetic, ruthless, and immoral man, whose life was a scandal. The main objective of his policy was to establish the rule of his family in central Italy. He broke the power of the great Roman families (Orsini, Colonna), and, through his son, Cesare Borgia (1475–1507), a former cardinal and the hero of Machiavelli's Prince, undertook the conquest of the Romagna. Cesare reduced most of the principalities (1499–1501) and became duke of the Romagna. In 1501 the Borgias joined France in the attack on Naples, and the French aided Cesare in putting down a revolt of his captains at Sinigaglia (Dec. 1502). But the death of the pope and the hostility of the new pontiff, Julius II, frustrated Cesare's schemes. Forced to disgorge his conquests, he turned to Spain for aid. In 1506 he was arrested at Naples and sent to Spain, where he died (1507). | 3 |
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| 1503–13 |
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| JULIUS II (Guillano della Rovere, nephew of Sixtus IV). Although a flourishing pluralist, having accumulated eight bishoprics and one archbishopric (Avignon), Julius was also a skilled diplomat, a financial genius, a brilliant administrator, and an enlightened patron of the arts (employing Michelangelo and Raphael): he ranks as one of the greatest of the popes. Participating himself in the military campaigns, he recovered territories taken by Cesare Borgia and was responsible for reconstituting the Papal State into the form it kept for the next four centuries. Although his interest in Church reform was only occasional, he summoned the Fifth Lateran Council (1512–17), in which one serious set of proposals condemned the Renaissance popes for their absorption in politics and bureaucracy; and recommended reform of the Roman Curia; translation of the Bible into the vernacular for the laity; centralization of several religious orders (such as the Benedictines, for whom each house was and still is autonomous); the restriction of admission to holy orders to educated and morally suitable candidates; a thorough revision of the Code of Canon Law; and the dispatch of missions to the recently “discovered” continents of America. This reform program was to preoccupy the Church for the next century. | 4 |
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| 1513–21 |
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| Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was a noteworthy patron of the arts and an easy going churchman whose first remark after his election, according to the Venetian ambassador, was “Now that God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.” Leo continued the Fifth Lateran council called by Julius II, but it yielded no practical results. He also continued Julius's construction of the new St. Peter's, financing it with the sale of indulgences, which in turn provoked Martin Luther's attack on the Church. His pontificate marks the beginning of the Reformation (See 1523). Preoccupied with the interests of his family and insulated from currents outside the papal court and Rome, Leo was insensitive to the wider religious problems of his day. | 5 |
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| 1522–23 |
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| ADRIAN VI (of Utrecht), the last non-Italian pope until 1978. Adrian was, at the time of his election, regent of Spain for Charles V. An upright and austere man, he attempted to purge the papacy of abuses and tried to reconcile Charles V and Francis I in order to unite Christendom in a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. His efforts brought him great unpopularity in Italy and conflict, even with Charles V, and he died before accomplishing much. | 6 |
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| 1523–34 |
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| CLEMENT VII (Giulio de' Medici), a hard-working but indecisive pontiff. He failed entirely to cope with the religious revolt in Germany, and failed also to maintain a safe position in the conflict between the French and the Spaniards for domination of Italy. Hence the terrible sack of Rome (May 6, 1527; (See 1527, May 6), which may be said to have brought to a close the greatness of Rome in the Renaissance. | 7 |
| In the papal conclave following Clement's death, Cardinal Alexander Farnese promised two German cardinals that if elected, he would summon a council. He was elected and ruled as Paul III (1534–49). A Roman aristocrat, humanist, and astrologer who immediately appointed his teenage grandsons cardinals, Paul nevertheless recognized the urgent need for reform. Accordingly, he named several devout scholars as cardinals (including Gian Pietro Caraffa, later Pope Paul IV); appointed a reform commission (1536); on Sept. 27, 1540, officially recognized the Society of Jesus (Jesuits); established the Roman Inquisition (July 21, 1542); and, finally, overcame political and curial opposition and summoned (1544) the Council of Trent (1545–63) to reform the Church and secure reconciliation with Protestants. Lutherans and Calvinists were invited to attend; because they insisted that Scripture alone serve as the basis for deliberations (and as the basis for authority in the Church), Protestants declined to attend, while Catholics held that Scripture and tradition act as the basis for discussions. International developments and the threat of plague in Trent interrupted the work of the council, which thus falls into three periods: 1545–47, 1551–52, and 1562–63. The ten years' delay (1534–44) in opening allowed for careful preparation of all issues facing the Church. | 8 |
| Tridentine (from Tridentum, Lat., Trent) decrees attacked old abuses (clerical absenteeism, pluralism, simony) by strengthening and centralizing ecclesiastical discipline: bishops were required to reside in their dioceses; pluralism and simony were suppressed. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, also called the Roman Catechism (1566), lucidly described the doctrinal beliefs of Roman Catholics. Two decrees had especially important social consequences: (1) Since the time of the Roman empire, many couples had exchanged marriage vows privately, without witnesses, forming what were called clandestine (secret) unions. This practice led to denials by one party and disputes in the ecclesiastical courts, which had jurisdiction over marriage, because, since the 12th century, it had been one of the sacraments. The decree Tametsi (Nov. 11, 1563) stipulated that for a marriage to be valid, consent (the essence of marriage; (See Culture and Popular Culture) must be made publicly before witnesses, one of whom must be the parish priest. Trent thereby abolished clandestine marriages in all Catholic countries (consensual and clandestine marriages remained a serious problem for the civil and church courts in England until the Hardwicke Act of 1753 abolished them). (2) To raise the pitiful educational level of the clergy, “whose intellectual bankruptcy was … common,” the council in the decree of July 1563 stipulated that every diocese must set up a seminary, with a preferential option given to sons of the poor. Seminaries provided advanced theological training for candidates for ordination; equally, they served as centers for spiritual formation, inspiring students with an “ecclesiastical spirit,” a moral attitude that brings a Christian viewpoint to all things. In the 17th century, seminary professors sought to discern whether candidates had religious vocations (a new idea, since, from the time of the early Church, parents had determined sons' religious careers), the criteria being purity of life, detachment from the broader secular culture, a steady inclination toward the priesthood, and the capability to carry out clerical functions. Between 1566 and 1650, steady ecclesiastical pressure to enforce the Tridentine goals radically transformed the intellectual and spiritual qualities of the Catholic clergy. | 9 |
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| 1555–59 |
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| PAUL IV (Gian Pietro Caraffa), a sincere and vigorous reformer and one of the chief inspirers of the Catholic Reformation. The powers and activities of the Inquisition were extended and the first index of forbidden books was drawn up (1559). As a Neapolitan, the pope detested the Spanish rule and was soon in conflict with the Habsburgs. He allied himself with France but was defeated by the duke of Alba. | 10 |
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| 1559–65 |
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| PIUS IV (Giovanni Medici, not related to the famous Florentine family), an amiable pontiff who followed the guidance of his high-minded and able nephew, Carlo Borromeo, archbishop of Milan. He made peace with the Habsburgs and concluded the Council of Trent (Professio Fidei Tridentina, 1564). In 1565 Pius officially recognized the Ursuline Order formed by Angela Merici of Brescia (1474–1540), the first women's religious order to concentrate entirely on teaching young girls. (The idea of an order of unenclosed and mobile religious women shocked the Roman authorities, who long delayed official approval.) The Ursulines rapidly spread throughout Europe and the New World, carrying the ideals of the Catholic Reformation. | 11 |
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| 1566–72 |
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| ST. PIUS V (Antonio Michele Ghislieri). Pius was an exceedingly devout and ascetic priest whose attitude was reflected in the financing of the naval crusade against the Ottoman Turks which culminated in the Battle of Lepanto (Oct. 7, 1571; (See 1571, Oct. 7). | 12 |
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| 1572–85 |
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| GREGORY XIII (Ugo Buoncampagni), who continued the policy of his predecessor and did much to encourage the Jesuit colleges and mission to Japan. He is remembered chiefly for his reform of the calendar (1582), which involved the dropping of ten days, and, for the future, the striking out of leap year at the close of each century excepting every fourth century. This reform was not accepted by Protestant countries until much later (in Russia not until 1918). | 13 |
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| 1585–90 |
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| SIXTUS V (Felice Peretti), one of the great popes of the Catholic Reformation period who, after suppressing the powerful nobility of the Papal States and purging the territory of bandits, reorganized the government, reestablished the finances on a sound basis, and encouraged industry (silk culture). In the same way he fixed the size of the college of cardinals at 70, and established 15 congregations or commissions of cardinals to deal with particular aspects of church affairs. New edition of the Vulgate Bible. Beautification of Rome, which now took on its characteristic baroque appearance (construction of the Vatican Palace and Library, the Lateran Palace, the Santa Scala; completion of the dome of St. Peter's according to Michelangelo's plans). | 14 |
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| 1592–1605 |
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| CLEMENT VIII (Ippolito Aldobrandini), distinguished for his deep piety. He pushed the Tridentine measures for the reform of the clergy; greatly assisted the charitable institutions of Rome; and absolved Henry IV of France after his abjuration of Calvinism (See 1590, March 14), when the two became close friends. He appointed as cardinals his confessors St. Philip Neri (1515–95), founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, a community of diocesan priests, and Caesar Baronius (1538–1607), an exceptionally able church historian respected even by Protestants. | 15 |
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