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The Archive of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, commonly referred to as the Archive of the Inquisition (or more fully the Archive of the Inquisition and Index), contains the Catholic Church's documents dealing with doctrinal and theological issues related to church teaching. It also contains information on political trials that were carried out when the papacy had temporal power over the Papal States.
According to most sources, the archive that is now the archive of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was founded in the sixteenth century – most likely in 1542 when Pope Paul III first established the Roman Inquisition as a central body for Church doctrine at the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. The Index of Forbidden Books was founded in 1571. Before this, there was no centralised means for collecting Inquisition papers, and it is generally believed that all or almost all important documents have been lost or even deliberately destroyed.
Most of the documents dating from these early years have been lost due to the French Revolution and the resultant pillage of Napoleon, which it is believed caused as many as two thousand documents to be lost before the archive was returned to Rome. Those remaining, however, have considerable value covering such questions as what role the Church played in the seventeenth century witch-hunts.
After the archive of the Inquisition was returned to Rome in 1815, it expanded a great deal. Although the actual number of documents housed in the present archive of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is not known because documents dated after Pope Leo XIII's death, in 1903, are still closed to researchers, there are known to be 4,500 documents available to scholars up to that point.
Over the years, there have been numerous important documents placed by various Popes in this archive. Probably the best known case is the 1944 and 1957 revelations by Fatima seer Lúcia dos Santos, but there exist numerous other documents of this type placed in the archives whose content was partially known before being placed there.
Although little precise information is known, there can be not the least doubt that a great many individual cases concerning doctrinal orthodoxy are dealt with very thoroughly in the archives of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, simply because many theologians investigated by it have published some of the information within their own writings.
Because hostility towards liberalism and socialism was so strong and the documents dealing with them considered very sensitive, at the time the papal files in the Vatican Secret Archives were opened by Leo XIII in 1879, that same Pope refused to allow any access to the archives either of the Inquisition or the Index of Forbidden Books. Even the pro-Papal historian Ludwig von Pastor could not use the Inquisition archive in writing his massive History of the Popes since the End of the Middle Ages. The first known case of a scholar gaining access to the Inquisition archive was ironically the fiercely anti-clerical scholar Luigi Firpo, who used his close connections with Maurilio Fossati (long-serving Archbishop of Turin) to study the trial of Giordano Bruno.
In 1979, a request was made to Pope John Paul II by historian Carlo Ginzburg, an atheist from Jewish background, to open the Inquisition Archives. By 1991 a limited group of scholars were already allowed access to review the material in the archives.
On 22 January 1998 the Vatican opened all Inquisition archives up to the death of Leo XIII. At first, there was space for only twelve scholars within the archives, but this has been increased as demand for the use of the material has increased.
Pope Benedict XVI, formerly head of the office, described Ginzburg's letter as instrumental in the Vatican's decision to open these archives. [1]
The fact that – whereas other open Vatican archives are now open up to the death of Pope Pius XI – documents dated from the modernist crisis under Pope Pius X have not been made available has been criticised by many liberal scholars (Hans Küng, John Cornwell). Since 1998 the Vatican has failed to issue any document stating either that post-1903 material will never be released (presumably to protect doctrinal orthodoxy) or that it may in the future open post-1903 Inquisition archives.
The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent, now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.
The Roman Inquisition, formally Suprema Congregatio Sanctae Romanae et Universalis Inquisitionis, was a system of partisan tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Catholic Church, during the second half of the 16th century, responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes according to Catholic law and doctrine, relating to Catholic religious life or alternative religious or secular beliefs. It was established in 1542 by the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Paul III. In the period after the Medieval Inquisition, it was one of three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition, the other two being the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition.
The Roman Curia comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use of in the exercise of his supreme pastoral office and universal mission in the world. It is at the service of the Pope, successor of Peter, and of the Bishops, successors of the Apostles, according to the modalities that are proper to the nature of each one, fulfilling their function with an evangelical spirit, working for the good and at the service of communion, unity and edification of the Universal Church and attending to the demands of the world in which the Church is called to fulfill its mission.
Pope Leo XIII was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope holding office, and had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of St. Peter, Pius IX and John Paul II.
The Holy See exercised political and secular influence, as distinguished from its spiritual and pastoral activity, while the pope ruled the Papal States in central Italy.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible for promulgating and defending Catholic doctrine.
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index ; Catholics were forbidden to print or read them, subject to the local bishop. Catholic states could enact laws to adapt or adopt the list and enforce it.
The Vatican Apostolic Archive, formerly known as the Vatican Secret Archive, is the central repository in the Vatican City of all acts promulgated by the Holy See.
Modernism in the Catholic Church describes attempts to reconcile Catholicism with modern culture, specifically an understanding of the Bible and Catholic tradition in light of the historical-critical method and new philosophical and political developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Spirituali were members of a reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church, which existed from the 1530s to the 1560s. The movement is sometimes also called evangelism.
Alfredo Ottaviani was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII named him cardinal in 1953. He served as secretary of the Holy Office in the Roman Curia from 1959 to 1966 when that dicastery was reorganised as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which he was pro-prefect until 1968.
Joseph Ratzinger (1927–2022) was named by Pope John Paul II on 25 November 1981 as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) formerly known as the Holy Office and, especially around the 16th century, as the Roman Inquisition.
The Pontifical Biblical Commission is a pontifical commission established within the Roman Curia to ensure the proper interpretation and defense of the Bible.
Luigi Maria Bilio, C.R.S.P., was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who, among other offices, was Secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.
Mediatrix of all graces is a title that some in the Catholic Church give to the Blessed Virgin Mary; as the Mother of God, it includes the understanding that she mediates the Divine Grace. In addition to Mediatrix, other titles are given to her in the Church: Advocate, Helper, Benefactress. In a papal encyclical of 8 September 1894, Pope Leo XIII said: "The recourse we have to Mary in prayer follows upon the office she continuously fills by the side of the throne of God as Mediatrix of Divine grace."
Mariological papal documents have been a major force that has shaped Roman Catholic Mariology over the centuries. Mariology is developed by theologians on the basis not only of Scripture and Tradition but also of the sensus fidei of the faithful as a whole, "from the bishops to the last of the faithful", and papal documents have recorded those developments, defining Marian dogmas, spreading doctrines and encouraging devotions within the Catholic Church.
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apostolic Church and handed down in Scripture and tradition". It does not mean that the pope cannot sin or otherwise err in most situations.
The Decree Against Communism was a 1949 Catholic Church document issued by the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, and approved by Pope Pius XII, which declared Catholics who professed communist doctrine to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith.
Praedicate evangelium is an apostolic constitution reforming the Roman Curia and was published and promulgated on 19 March 2022 by Pope Francis; the document took effect on 5 June 2022.
The Dicastery for the Service of Charity, also known as the Apostolic Alms Office, is an administrative unit of the Roman Curia. It began operations on 5 June 2022 as established by the apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium promulgated on 19 March 2022. Before the reform of Praedicate evangelium it was named the Office of Papal Charities.
41°54′3.54″N12°27′21.82″E / 41.9009833°N 12.4560611°E
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