Favor et Odium Fidei: Conversion invitis parentibus in historical perspective

The eighteenth century papacy made Jewish life in Rome especially difficult through renewed emphasis on the program of conversion begun in earnest during the sixteenth century. Though it has been suggested that these actions marked a turning point, in fact, a careful textual reading of bulls issued by Pope Benedict XIV and the texts Benedict himself cites shows his keen awareness of continuing, if not culminating a long tradition. He was also balancing suspected Jewish odium against the favor of the Catholic faith. His actions and those of his eighteenth century papal fellows reveal a Church fighting to avoid the changes the new post French revolutionary world would impose. Indeed, the popes were challenged from within by Roman Christian lawyers employed by the Jews. These lawyers challenged the notion that canon law should invariably vanquish civil law, anticipating, therefore, coming legal upheavals.