Századok – 2002
Tanulmányok - Tusor Péter: A magyar hierarchia és a pápaság a 17. században III/527
A MAGYAR HIERARCHIA ÉS A PÁPASÁG A 17. SZÁZADBAN 545 THE HUNGARIAN HIERARCHY AND THE PAPACY IN THE 17t h CENTURY (Problems and Turning Points) by Péter Tusor (Summary) The present study proposes to examine the complex relationship between the papacy and the bishops of the Hungarian Catholic renewal which began early in the 17t h century. Its aim is to reveal the Roman connexions of Catholic modernisation in Hungary, and the main phases and characteristics of the process itself, that is, to establish its chronology. The first third of the century is characterised by cooperation. The more important milestones are the granting of the cardinal's hat to the first great figures of the Counter-Reformation, archbishops Ferenc Forgách (1607-1615) and Péter Pázmány (1616-1637); the introduction of the Roman rite; and that upon the prelates' petition the Roman inquisition censured the pro-Protestant Hungarian laws of 1608 and excommunicated Maximilian II (1608-1619) because he had signed them. Partly thanks to papal intervention the political positions of early medieval Catholicism became considerably more promising by the time of the diet of Pozsony held in the next year. The second phase, which lasted from 1632 to 1645, was one of intense conflicts of political and later of ecclesiastical nature. Péter Pázmány, who appeared in Rome as a Habsburg envoy in search of financial aid, became a persona non grata in the Curia until his death, and his return in the Eternal City was deliberately hindered by the papal diplomacy. The episcopal conference of the Hungarian prelates, held in 1639 at Nagyszombat, went as far as to assert almost overtly episcopalian views. The escalation of the crisis seems to find its cause in the nature of the Barberini pontificate and in the state-church system which was then being consolidated in Hungary. From the middle of the century the emphasis shifted to different political ambitions, old and new as well, such as the expulsion of the Ottomans or the adoption of the archbishops of Esztergom among the cardinals in order to improve their domestic positions. The ecclesiastical relations were characterised by a special modus vivendi. Yet when the Catholisation of Hungary reached its apogee in the 1670s, it was through the sometimes violent contribution of the Habsburg government and practically without Rome's involvement. To sum up, then, the relationship between the Hungarian bishops and the papacy in the 17th century was shaped by the historical cycles of the papacy on the one hand, and by the Italian policy of the Habsburgs and the survival of medieval structures in Hungary on the other hand. Despite its own conceptions and aspirations, the elite of the Hungarian Catholic church was forced to adapt itself to these conditions.
