The Prince and the Catholic Church

Catholic Church and the Prince

The Catholic Church embraced the handbook known as the ‘Prince’ because it contained the genre literally during the Medieval and the Renaissance Periods. This particular handbook offered advice to many people like the fathers, sons, princes, servants, and servants. Machiavelli was the author who had thoroughly mastered the art of explaining to everyone about the obligations bestowed on them in the course of their lives.

The church, therefore, was in the first line to accept what it entailed since it was the basis of the rules governing the Christians (Kennedy &Emmet). For example, in one of the letters, Machiavelli had addressed to one of the princes advising him earnestly to uphold his Christian faith and involve himself in acts of charity so that his subjects would admire his work and be convinced to emulate him. This is as derived in the section ‘The importance of the Prince.’

The handbook delighted many people when Machiavelli wrote it. This is because he placed in a contrary direction the often-used saying that had lost meaning over time (Kennedy &Emmet). Not in one of his books did he highlight the invalidity of the traditional moral values in conducting the affairs of the state.

What he did was that the laws were irrelevant; hence they should not be considered. Machiavelli’s writings were not biased; he did not write under the influence of any customary laws as seen in Christian theology and classical philosophy (Kennedy &Emmet). His doctrine allowed the followers of those bad leaders to implement coercive measures that could help to point their mistakes.

Machiavelli subscribed to a higher political goal, and his belief was beyond considerations of good and evil: all he wanted was to establish an Italian state that was united and strong so that they could expel the Spanish, French, and the Italian intruders (Kennedy &Emmet). Accordingly, Machiavelli vision of creating a united Italy which became a source of inspiration to Camillo di Cavour, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who led the movement for unification called Risorgimento of 1750 to 1870, about 1750 when the Italian patriots’ army entered the city of Rome in the middle of the citizens’ applauses. This is a great way, helped the handbook to gain favor in the Catholic Church and many other people.

Subsequently, the handbook ‘The Prince’ was banned by the Catholic Church because of various reasons. The primary reason became apparent in the 1550s when the morality of the handbook and the author’s character, Machiavelli, was discredited(Kennedy &Emmet). This happened when the Protestant Reformation started its counter-Reformation against the doctrine. Therefore, the Catholic Church responded to this challenge; hence, the journey of refuting this handbook began.

Although the dissertation had gained the approval of Pope Clement VII when it was first published, it was listed among the books that were prohibited, and the author’s artwork was discredited as well. In 1557, following the order from Pope Paul IV, the distribution of Machiavelli’s work was banned because it was reported that it did not uphold the morals according to the church (Kennedy &Emmet). The Jesuits were hostile towards the doctrine because Machiavelli advocated the church to be subordinate to the state; this author’s work was later removed from the index in 1890. This is evident in the section of ‘The Roman Catholic Church and the Prince.’

In the section ‘Historical Context regarding Nicollo Machiavelli’s, The Prince,’ Machiavelli is depicted as having a significant influence on the historical leaderships (Kennedy &Emmet). He favored Florence to become part of the Holy League, but Soderini refused because he did not want to betray Louis XII. Pope Julius punished deployed the forces from Holy League to punish the republic of Florentine because it did not support the crusade against the Frech; this included Machiavelli, who helped Florence.

The partisans of Machiavelli were later dismissed from office. He had been accused of being part of the team that had planned a conspiracy to re-establish the republic and induce torture. He wrote political, literary, and historical works, which allowed him to indulge in these activities with confidence (Kennedy &Emmet). He was in Florence, and forming major treaties permitted him to produce these significant dissertations. However, this did not make the Catholic Church proud because he went against the Pope’s wishes; hence, the doctrine was banned.

According to the handout of the ‘Roman Catholic Church,’ the definition of ‘‘imprimatur’’ means that Pope Clement VII had given the full approval of the doctrine ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli. When it was published in 1532, everyone, mainly the church, supported what it was advocating (Polegato et al.). They viewed the doctrine as the basis of the Christian faith because it insisted on the importance of masters like the princes to uphold their Christian practices while leading their people. In return, their servants would admire them, and this would make them emulate these good deeds. Therefore, the church represented by this Pope had given the official license to publish this specific doctrine.