Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti, authors of Imprimatur, have spoken out against the Vatican and their brand of ‘auto-censoring’ that resulted in a media black-out and their book being withdrawn from bookshop shelves across the country. Despite the initial print run of 15,000 copies selling out almost immediately, their Italian publisher Mondadori dropped them due to pressure from the Vatican.
Imprimatur tells the story of Atto Melani, an Italian castrato and spy at the court of Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. However, the anger kindled within the Roman Catholic Church stems from part of the storyline directly based on documents discovered by Monaldi and Sorti in the Vatican Secret Archive and the Italian State Archives.
The documents reveal a connection between Pope Innocent XI and William of Orange, a Protestant hero and that a sum of 150,000 scudi (the equivalent of £3.5 million today) was sent to William from Innocent, implying that Innocent was supporting a heretic and enemy of the Church.
In 1672, Louis had occupied the Netherlands. William led the resistance and, allied with Catholic Spain and Austria, drove out the French. Although he was a fellow Roman Catholic, Louis was seen as a threat by Rome. Did Innocent secretly decided to back William?
Despite the problems in Italy, Imprimatur has sold more than a million copies across Europe. Published for the first time in the UK this month by Polygon they wait with batted breath to see the reaction here.
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