Les privilèges plutôt que l’orthodoxie. L’Inquisition à Malte et sa lutte pour le pouvoir pendant la Contre-Réforme

The theme of the Counter-Reformation was among the most debated by European historiography in the second half of the 20th century. Historians have argued how the Roman Church managed to overcome the deep crisis of the early sixteenth century by proposing a new model of Christian, who must be orthodox, educated, purified and more attentive to the evangelical mission. The article aims to partially deconstruct this classical thesis, by discussing largely unpublished documentation from the Congregation of the Holy Office. The proposed case is that of the Inquisition of Malta, where there was one of the most important tribunals of this ecclesiastic institution. The analysis of the documents shows how the inquisitors, in agreement with the Inquisitorial Congregation, spent most of their time protecting their collaborators, who were very often criminals, not orthodox, offenders of the orthopraxy and contrary to morality. The Holy Office used its large staff to challenge the authority of civil and religious institutions, by guaranteeing to the employees extraordinary fiscal, judicial, military, political and spiritual privileges. Paradoxically, as the Maltese example testifies, the inquisitors often became an obstacle for the discipline proposed at the Council of Trent, by protecting their collaborators and their privileges.