Gian Pietro Carafa

Gian Pietro Carafa was one of the most important figures of the sixteenth century. The son of Giovanni Antonio Carafa, Count of Montorio, and Vittoria Camponeschi, he was born in 1476 in a family fief near Avellino, in the Kingdom of Neaples. He began his early studies in the humanities in Naples, likely at home, before being sent to Rome to reside at the cardinal court of his illustrious uncle Oliviero. There he had the opportunity to study Hebrew, law, philosophy, and theology. His curial career commenced in 1500 with his appointed as Papal Chamberlain to Pope Alexander VI. He became Apostolic Protonotary in 1503 and, two years later, was named Bishop of Chieti—hence his nickname, Theatine Bishop—receiving consecration in 1506. The same year, Pope Julius II appointed him nuncio to the new King of Naples Ferdinand II. It was a difficult experience that led him to retreat to his family estates. He also spent some time in Chieti, attempting to reorganize the diocese and conducting a pastoral visit. In 1513, he was summoned to Rome by Pope Leo X to participate in the Fifth Lateran Council and, in the same year, was appointed nuncio to Henry VIII of England. He remained in this role until 1516 when he joined the Flemish court of the new king of Spain, Charles of Habsburg. During the brief pontificate of Pope Adrian VI, Carafa returned to Rome, engaging in reformist projects aimed at addressing the moral decline of the Curia. His reputation solidified, and he began to be known as the reformer of the papal court. In 1524, he initiated the reform of priestly ordination and, alongside Gaetano Thiene and other two priests, cofounded the Order of Theatines—the first congregation of clerics regular—which became the model for later congregations, such as the Jesuits. In 1532 he wrote the important Memorial to Clement VII, which is considered the manifesto of his uncompromising and repressive ideal of Church reform. In 1536 he played a prominent role in the deliberations that produced the document of the Consilium de emendanda ecclesia. In the 1536, Pope Paul III elevated him to the cardinalate, and in 1542 appointed him Prefect of the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, following the failure of reconciliation efforts between Catholic and Protestant. From this position, Carafa pursued his campaign at the same time against both heretics and political opponents, particularly the members of the “spirituali,” a group of important cardinals—some of them very close to the Emperor Charles V—and other ecclesiastics who adhered to the doctrines of the Spanish reformer Juan de Valdés, focused on the primacy of personal inner illumination and on a reform that wanted to legitimize the justification by faith within ecclesiastical institutions making it compatible with loyalty to the Church of Rome. Thanks to the success of his inquisitorial activities, Carafa was able to further his ambitions. In 1555, in fact, he was elected pope, taking the name of Paul IV. His papacy was characterized by nepotism, a ruinous war against Spain, the persecution of every kind of heresies and moral failings, the establishment of the Roman ghetto, and the publication of the first general Index of Forbidden Books. He died in Rome in 1559. Upon hearing the news, an enraged crowd mobilized immediately to erase every visible trace of his legacy. They attacked the Ripetta inquisitorial prison, burned the archives, and released the prisoners. A statue of the pontiff was defaced and dragged through the streets before being cast into the River Tiber. Within a short time, Paul IV, his activities, and his pontificate had been condemned to a dramatic damnatio memoriae.

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