The POPE Encyclopedia

by Matthew Bunson

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NEPOTISM

 
The granting  of  offices,  preferments,  and  positions  of
influenee  to  family  members and relatives. The history of
the papacy is replete with incidents of nepotism, since  the
practice  became common custom in the Middle Ages when popes
belonged to prominent families and noble  houses  and  there
were  many  relatives  to  reward.  The  institution  of the
so-called cardinal nephew became so pervasive, in fact, that
the word nepotism is taken from the Italian nepoti (nephew).
The nepotistic tendencies of the  popes  stemmned  in  large
part  from  the  need  for  a  pontiff  to  appoint reliable
individuals to posts in his administration without  fear  of
scheming and ambitions by those outside his family. That the
custom was a problem by the eleventh century can be seen  in
the  denunciation  of  the  practice  by  Pope  Sylvester II
(999-1003). It continued unabated  throughout  the  medieval
epoch  and into the Renaissanee, reaching a peak during, the
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  when  the  cardinal
nephew  system  was a fully accepted part of papal life. The
reforms of the papacy gradually ended nepotism,  culminating
with  the  proclamation  of  Pope Innocent XII (1691- 1700),
Romanum Decet Pontificem (1692), in which  he  decreed  that
pontiffs  should  not  grant offices or estates and only one
relative should be permitted elevation to the purple.

(sebelum, sesudah)


THE POPE ENCYCLOPEDIA - Matthew Bunson
Published by Crown Trade Paperbacks
201 East 50th Street, New York
New York 10022, USA
ISBN 0-517-88256-6
 

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