ABSTRACT
After surveying the tumultuous events of 1517, Chapter 3 begins by considering the exchanges between the Maronites and Pope Clement VII (1523–1534). It argues that Maronite attempts to contact Rome were largely frustrated, and notes the gradual hardening of papal correspondence with Patriarch Musa al-Akkari. A short introduction to the crucial source for this and the following chapters, the correspondence of Cardinal Marcello Cervini (1501–1555), is then followed by an evaluation of letters exchanged between this cardinal, Pope Paul III (1534–1549), and Patriarch Musa. The Maronite perspective on this correspondence is first examined, where it is argued that Patriarch Musa sought to establish diplomatic and educational exchanges in order to guarantee closer contact between the Maronites to Rome in the long term. This chapter then considers the Catholic response to the patriarch’s letters, finding in them an intransigence that is traced back the Reformation. As such, this chapter argues that suspicions about the orthodoxy of other Christians generated by the Reformation changed Rome’s approach to the Maronites, setting up the discussions of contact between Rome and other Christians from Africa and the Middle East that follow in Chapter 4.
