Pietro Belo, fiscale del Sant'Uffizio: sugli inizi dell'attività della Congregazione

The essay reconstructs the biography of Pietro Belo, a lay jurist who was a man of trust of Paul IV and fiscale of the Congregation of the Roman Holy Office after his death. The manuscript volume that contains his consultations drawn up for the Inquisition from 1548 to 1571, kept in the Vatican Library, was poorly used but is a very precious source to outline what the fiscal’s competences were, to understand Carafa’s judicial strategies, before and during his reign, and to outline his attempt to extend the powers of the tribunal on matters such as alleged sanctity, simony, immorality of the clergy and sodomy.