siXTUS v AND THE JEWS

Also in the relationships with the Jews Pope Sixtus proved his resolute character despite the common attitudes. In fact in 1586, just one year after the beginning of  his papacy he issued  the ”motu proprio (something like a ordinance), Christiana pietas” , to help alleviate the conditions of the Jews, making it easier for them to settle anywhere in the ecclesial state.

Somebody argued that the “pietas”  was fortified  by Sixtus’ opinion that the Jews’ ability would have been useful for the state’s  economy.

	Unfortunately  three years after his death, in the 1593, Pope Clemente VIII issued a "bull" expelling the Jews from the ecclesiastical state, except for Rome, Ancona and Avignon.
Clemente VIII

	Torquemada	Sixtus IV
Institution of the Spanish Inquisition, opposed first by pope Sixtus IV and then by Pope Borja (Alexander VI).
	Ferdinando of Aragon and Isabella of Castile	Alexander VI
Expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of Aragon and Castile, that his from all the Spain under the control of the catholic Kingdom; followed by a large migration of Jews to Rome, favored by Pope Alexander VI Borja. Alessandro VI was Spanish indeed,  but Catalan!
	Paulus IV
Pope  Paulus IV, as an extreme remedy for limiting the Jewish presence, issued  the bull “cum nimis absurdum” that established the Rome ghetto, patterned after the ghetto created in Venice in 1516.
		Gregorius XIII
	Pius V
Pope Pius V and Gregorius XIII reinforced restrictions against the Jews. This was the context in which Sixtus V issued his motu proprio.   The Jews and Rome  a thousands  years’  history. When we ‘ll talk about Cesar, for a lot of you will be a surprise to know that…..

Finally  to day the very center of Rome is an international melting pot and if you wish to meet the  genuine roman people go to the ghetto.
	Slab of Roman epoch in via del portico d'Ottavia