Pico, Theology, and the Church

Abstract

“If you like him, have him write poetry rather than theological stuff, for that suits him better, since the Count lacks the foundations and hasn't seen as much as is needed for someone who writes on theology.” This is the advice from Pope Innocent VIII that the ambassador Giovanni Lanfredini reported to his employer Lorenzo de' Medici on October 2, 1489, regarding the continuously hazardous theological publications of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. It is unlikely that the Pope had these lines in mind, which the Count had written not long before: Misera Italia e tutta Europa intorno, che 'l tuo gran padre Papa iace e vende In tinkering with theology, Pico had attracted the ire of the pope, who, of course, had enough theologians in his service to issue condemnations and warnings. But peaceful Florence, that is, Lorenzo de' Medici, managed to obtain a brief from the next pope, Alexander VI, that absolved the protégé from any suspicion of heresy. Gianfrancesco Pico, Giovanni's nephew, did not fail to put that at the head of his edition of his uncle's works. Giovanni Pico and his literary talents, his proficiency and orthodoxy in theology, his allegiance to the Medici, and the religious policy of Rome – all this was at stake. To begin with the religious policy: when Giovanni Pico called for a great council in Rome to discuss 900 theses in late 1486, he encountered immediate suspicion and enmity.

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