Cardinal Giovanni Battista De Luca: Nepotism in the Seventeenth-century Catholic Church and De Luca's Efforts to Prohibit the Practice Page: 61
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particular counselor),24 Auditore (offices of the Roman Curia, the duty of which is
to hear and examine the causes submitted to the pope), and Secretary of
Memorials.25 De Luca was ordained at an advanced age. The Church elected
him Cardinal priest in the consistory on September 1, 1681; he received the red
hat and the title of S. Girolamo degli Croati (degli Schiavoni) on September 22,
1681.26
Before being elevated to the Cardinalate, Innocent Xl asked de Luca to
help reform the Church. One of the reforms he had in mind was the reform of
nepotism. The pope knew that this practice was draining the finances of the
Church. De Luca sought to gain approval by the Cardinals for the acceptance of
the prohibition against nepotism. He attempted to enforce what the Council of
Trent had enjoined but he encountered human weakness and obstinacy that
prevented fulfillment of the vision of Trent. Most of the Cardinals were against
ending nepotism arguing that nepotism was not the problem but that the abuse of
nepotism was the problem.27 Nepotism was but one of the many reforms and
24 Zanotti, Cultura giuridica del seicento e jus publicum ecclesiasticum nell' opera del
Cardinal Giovanni Battista De Luca, 6.
25 Lorenzo Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della santa Romana chiesa. IX vols.
Vol. VII. Rome: Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, 253-5; Santangelo, "La toga e la porpora - quattro
biografie de Giovan Battista De Luca," 28.
26 Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della santa romana chiesa. No further
information can be found for the exact date of his ordination.
27 Raymond J. Maras, Innocent XI Pope of Christian Unity, ed. Cyriac K. Pullapilly, 1 ed.,
vol. 1, The Church and the World (Notre Dame: Cross Cultural Publications, Inc., 1984), 217.
61
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Cowan, H. Lee. Cardinal Giovanni Battista De Luca: Nepotism in the Seventeenth-century Catholic Church and De Luca's Efforts to Prohibit the Practice, dissertation, August 2012; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149577/m1/68/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .