Dissimuler, différer, faire grâce. Prévenir le scandale dans la doctrine canonique du Moyen Âge à l’époque moderne

For centuries, the notion of scandal played a fundamental role in the system of canonical criminal law, first of all as a circumstance which justified the repressive intervention from the ecclesiastical authorities against some censurable behaviour. The history of the Church, even in recent times, has shown, however, that the link between the fear of scandal and the activation of the repressive tool from ecclesiastical authorities is not at all automatic: in a large number of cases the reaction of superiors in the presence of potentially scandalous situations has in fact been of the opposite sign, and has consisted, depending on the case, in renouncing the application of the norms in force, resorting to measures of dispensation or amnesty, or even directly using informal mechanisms of cover-up. Far from constituting an abuse carried out in violation of the law in force, these disparate strategies for preventing scandal have been introduced over the centuries both by pontifical legislation and, above all, by canonical doctrine (decretists and decretalists). The aim of this article is to analyse such developments from a historical perspective.