Bonifacio the Ostrogoth and Clemente the Romagnolo, who suppressed the Jesuits

20 or 22 September 530. Boniface II, born in Rome and of Ostrogothic origin, was elected as the first Germanic Pope. He had become archdeacon during the pontificate of Felix IV (III), who had solemnly designated him as his successor. The decision was formally correct because, thirty years earlier, Pope Symmachus had established that a pontiff could designate his own successor; however, Boniface’s was the only such case, and the rule was abolished shortly after his death. On the very day that Felix IV (III) died, Boniface was consecrated in the Lateran Palace whilst, in the nearby Lateran Basilica, the archdeacon Dioscorus was being consecrated as Pope by others. The schism lasted only three weeks because Dioscorus died. The following year, Boniface also appointed a successor, the deacon Vigilius, reaffirming his right to choose a successor in a special constitution; however, the reaction of the Senate, the Roman people and the court of Ravenna led to the convening of a synod to condemn the Pope’s actions. Before he was brought to trial, Boniface reversed his decisions, publicly burning his constitution and thereby annulling Vigilius’s appointment (although Vigilius was, in any case, elected Pope a few years later). The controversy over papal elections was, however, of marginal importance during Boniface’s brief pontificate, during which he dealt with various issues concerning the Western and Eastern Churches. He also provided for the city’s poor through regular, free distributions of food, which took place in St Peter’s Basilica, drawing on his family’s financial resources.

22 September 1774. Clement XIV, the Franciscan from Romagna, Lorenzo (baptised Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio) Ganganelli, died; he was known for his irreproachable conduct and theological expertise. The conclave that had elected him had seen the direct intervention of Emperor Joseph II of Habsburg, who had engaged in discussions with the cardinals already assembled, without, however, giving any precise instructions. As a long-standing friend of the Jesuits, after his appointment as cardinal he had gradually distanced himself from them and had declared that a Pope had the canonical right to dissolve any religious order. This statement was certainly correct, but in the climate of those years it indicated a willingness to carry out the wishes of the Catholic powers. Indeed, after a period of uncertainty, Clement XIV was no longer able to resist the various pressures and decided to suppress the Society of Jesus, a decree which was issued in 1773. The event was celebrated by the ruling classes as a victory of reason over obscurantism; in reality, it was a victory of a corrupt form of the Enlightenment and of absolutism over the papacy, and the figure of Clement XIV, in the eyes of later historians, appears, precisely because of that decision, to be irreparably compromised. The Jesuits remained in non-Catholic regions, in Protestant Prussia and Orthodox Russia, where they were held in high regard for their excellent educational system.