Giovanni Morone was born at Milan, the son of the chancellor of the duchy, and became Bishop of Modena in 1529. As papal nuncio in Germany he attended the religious colloquies of Hagenau (1540) and Regensburg (1541), where he worked with Contarini. He was made a cardinal in 1542 and was one of the legates appointed for the first, abortive opening of the Council of Trent.¹

Morone belonged to the circle of Italian churchmen, with Contarini and Pole, who hoped for reform and spoke warmly of grace. In 1557 Paul IV had him arrested and confined in the Castel Sant’Angelo on suspicion of heresy. He remained there until the pope’s death and was acquitted under Pius IV.

In 1563, when the council was deadlocked and near collapse, Pius IV sent Morone to Trent as its first president. By patient negotiation with the emperor and the kings of France and Spain, he brought the council to its conclusion on December 4, 1563. The decrees he signed confirmed every point the Reformers had rejected.² He died at Rome on December 1, 1580.

Morone’s career is a reminder that Rome’s own reformers did not escape the Inquisition, and that the council they completed closed the door the Reformers had opened.

Catholic Opponents