Decio Carafa

Decio Carafa (* 1556 in Naples ; † January 23, 1626 ibid) was an Italian cardinal from the House of Carafa . From 1613 until his death he was Archbishop of Naples .

Life

Coat of arms of the House of Carafa

Decio Carafa came from a well-known Neapolitan noble family and was a descendant of Pope Paul IV. His uncle Mario , Archbishop of Naples, taught the young Decio. After his uncle's death in 1576, he went to Rome and became a speaker of the Apostolic Signature and was given the title of Papal House Prelate. Carafa became general collector in Portugal in 1598, which he remained until 1604. Together with the Apostolic Nuncio in Spain, he was able to resolve numerous conflicts in favor of the Holy See. When and whether he received the spiritual ordinations is unclear. At the beginning of 1605 he was considered a candidate for the Archbishopric of Naples and cardinal dignity, but Pope Clement VIII died before he could decide.

Pope Paul V appointed him titular archbishop of Damascus and apostolic nuncio in Flanders in 1606 . Carafa's special task was to induce the clergy to strictly adhere to church discipline and to renew church life in general. In 1607 he became nuncio in Spain, which he remained until 1611. In 1610 he got into the dispute over the inheritance of the duchies of Jülich and Cleve . In Spain, too, he tried to enforce ecclesiastical discipline, as decided at the Council of Trent . However, his unyielding demeanor soon made him unpopular.

On 17 August 1611 he took Paul V as Cardinal Priest of San Lorenzo in Panisperna into the College of Cardinals on. In 1612 he opted for the titular church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo . In January 1613, Cardinal Carafa became the new Archbishop of Naples. He held three diocesan synods in 1619, 1622 and 1623 and published numerous reform ordinances. He also worked hard to found new parishes and monasteries. He took part in the conclave to elect a Pope in 1621 and 1623 . Cardinal Carafa was considered a papabile , but had no great ambitions for the papacy even because of age and illness. In addition, the Spanish cardinals were unanimously opposed to Carafa's candidacy. Three years later, after a long illness, he died at the age of 70 in Naples and was buried in the cathedral there.

literature

• Georg Lutz:  CARAFA (Caraffa), Decio. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 19:  Cappi-Cardona. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1976.

Web links

• Carafa, Decio. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed February 4, 2014.
• Entry about Decio Carafa on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Ottavio Acquaviva d'Aragona	Archbishop of Naples 1613–1626	Francesco Boncompagni