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The Theology of Chocolate | History Today

History Matters The Theology of Chocolate The introduction of chocolate to the Catholic world caused a dilemma: could it be eaten? Should it be given up for Lent? Miles Pattenden | Published in History Today Volume 72 Issue 3 March 2022 Woman holding cacao (and decorated with cacao beans), Maya, AD....

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Hasnain says:

“Eventually the Jesuits, who by this time had commercial interests in cacao production and distribution, took the case back to Rome. They secured a favourable ruling from no less an eminence than the theologian Cardinal Francesco Maria Brancaccio, who put his name to a 16-page opinion De Chocolatis potu (On the use of chocolate, 1664), which reaffirmed Hurtado’s arguments. The Jesuits published this immediately, reprinting it at least four times in the next decade.

In the event, these arguments all proved academic because chocolate consumption became so popular that the Church could do little to shape the behaviour of its faithful in the matter. In 1692 Pope Innocent XII even received a request from Carmelites in Madrid for a dispensation to drink chocolate inside the walls of their convent. “

Posted on 2022-03-05T07:35:11+0000