License ab initio

Licet ab initio (beginning of the text, Latin for Even if at the beginning ... ) is the name of the Apostolic Constitution of July 21, 1542, which was approved by Pope Paul III. has been published. It is the founding document of the Congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis , which later became today's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith .

Origin and background

With the document, Pope Paul III. after the pressure of a section of the Roman Curia, who followed with concern the spread of heresy on the Italian peninsula. The document was published a year after the failed Regensburg Religious Discussion between Catholics and Protestants. Until then, it had been hoped among the cardinals that a return to Christian unity would be possible by means of conviction and logic. Licet ab initio is an expression of the opinion that even more decisive action against any form of heresy is necessary. Cardinal Giampietro Carafa was of this opinion. Pope Paul III set up a commission of six cardinals called "Commissarii et Inquisitores Generales". It consisted of Giampietro Carafa (later Pope Paul IV ), Juan Álvarez y Alva de Toledo , Pietro Paolo Parisio, Bartolomeo Guidiccioni, Dionisio Neagrus Laurerio and Tommaso Badia .

Duties and Powers of the New Inquisition

The task of this cardinals commission was the fight against heresy , the reorganization and coordination of the courts of the Inquisition. The cardinals could take action against any kind of heresy and its followers in the realm of the Catholic Church. They had the authority to pronounce the final sentence - including the death penalty - anywhere. The commission was empowered to call upon the help of secular rulers if necessary. Wherever necessary, the cardinals could appoint inquisitors . The commission was the court of appeal against judgments from other courts.

Against the heretics

The procedure against heretics was regulated for the first time. For the Pope saw in every heretic a possible “rebel and destroyer” of church authority . He thus created - following the example of the Inquisition , which is already known in Spain - a court that was allowed and should work wherever the Catholic Church had power and influence.

Composition and work

Pope Paul III himself was head of the Inquisition, as his deputy to the Supreme Inquisitor , he appointed Cardinal Giovanni Pietro Carafa, who would later take over the pontificate as Pope Paul IV . Together with five other cardinals, they formed the college of judges of the highest tribunal of the Catholic churches. There was no objection or appeal against her decision, anyone could bring charges.

literature

Bruno Moser (ed.): The papacy. Epochs and shapes . Südwest Verlag, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-517-00809-5 .

Web links

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Individual evidence

^ Paulus III .: Licet ab initio. In: Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum Santorum Romanorum Pontificum. Taurinensis editio locupletior facta collectione novissima plurium brevium, epistolarum, decretorum actorumque S. Sedis a S. Leone Magnus usque ad praesens, t. VI, Augustae Taurinorum 1860, pp. 344-346.
^ Gian Luca D'Errico: Licet ab initio. In: Dizionario storico dell'Inquisizione , ed. by Adriano Prosperi, Vincenzo Lavenia and John Tedeschi, Edizioni della Normale, Pisa 2010, Volume 2, p. 906.

[1] Paulus III .: Licet ab initio. In: Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum Santorum Romanorum Pontificum. Taurinensis editio locupletior facta collectione novissima plurium brevium, epistolarum, decretorum actorumque S. Sedis a S. Leone Magnus usque ad praesens, t. VI, Augustae Taurinorum 1860, pp. 344-346.

[2] Gian Luca D'Errico: Licet ab initio. In: Dizionario storico dell'Inquisizione , ed. by Adriano Prosperi, Vincenzo Lavenia and John Tedeschi, Edizioni della Normale, Pisa 2010, Volume 2, p. 906.