"No puede creer que el Papa y el Rey pretendan cosas injustas": La doble lealtad de los obispos saboyanos (Sicilia y Cerdeña a principios del siglo XVIII)

Abstract

En 1713, tras la guerra de sucesión española, los Saboya obtuvieron el reino de Sicilia. El dominio saboyano sobre la isla duró solamente cinco años; tras la guerra de la Cuádruple Alianza, de hecho, en 1718 Sicilia retornaría a España (para después ser cedida a Austria) mientras a Saboya le viene otorgada Cerdeña. El breve dominio saboyano de Sicilia coincide con un período de fuertes tensiones con la Sede Apostólica, decidida a eliminar antiguas instituciones de origen medieval (la Legazia apostolica, el Tribunale di Regia Monarchia) che eran vistas como anacrónicas limitaciones de la Libertas Ecclesiae. Por su parte, la corte saboyana no quería ceder prerrogativas seculares concedidas a la Corona en el plano del gobierno eclesiástico. En el centro de este duro desencuentro se encontraban los obispos sicilianos, obligados a observar una doble lealtad (al Papa y a su nuevo monarca) no fácilmente conciliable. Menos tormentosa fue la relación con los obispos sardos, aunque la falta de reconocimiento del dominio saboyano sobre Cerdeña por parte del papado (que no llegará hasta 1727) puso los obispos, por algunos años, frente al dilema de la doble lealtad

In 1713, following the war of Spanish succession, the Savoias got the kingdom of Sicily. Their dominion on the island only lasted five years; following the war of the Fourfold alliance, in fact, in 1718 Sicily returned to Spain (and then it was surrendered to Austria) while Sardinia was assigned to the Savoias. The brief Savoias’ dominion on Sicily coincided with a period of strong tensions with the Holy See, determined in eliminating ancient institutes of medieval origin (the "Legazia apostolica ", the " Tribunale di Regia Monarchia ") which were considered as anachronistic limitations of the "Libertas Ecclesiae." From her side, the Savoias’ court did not want to waive secular prerogatives which had been granted to the Crown with reference to the ecclesiastical government. The Sicilian bishops were in the middle of this hard clash, as they were forced to comply with a double loyalty (to the pope and their new monarch) which was not easily compatible. The relationship with the Sardinian bishops was instead less tormented, even if the non recognition of the Savoias’ dominion on Sardinia by the papacy (arrived only in the 1727) for a few years caused to the bishops the dilemma of the "double loyalty."