ANNALI ECCLESIASTICI. — A weekly literary-religious journal founded by Msgr. Scipione de' Ricci, Bishop of Pistoia, and published in Florence from 2 June 1780 to 1792.
With a distinctly Jansenist and reformist tone, modeled on the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques (v.) of Paris, it disseminated among educated readers the gravest errors against Catholic doctrine, vigorously defended the dissident church of Utrecht, published translated works condemned by the Church, extolled libelous writings, and did not refrain from calumnies and base insinuations against the Jesuits. The tone was so strident and the spirit so combative that, despite the enthusiasm and chorus of praise it aroused even in France—where its articles appeared in translation in the Nouvelles ecclésiastiques—grave misgivings were felt even by de' Ricci's own friends. Indeed, Msgr. Giovanni Bernardino Pecci, in a memorandum to Leopold I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, described the Annali ecclesiastici as “an abomination to Catholic minds and a sorrow to the entire Church” (Pastor, XVI, part III, p. 109).
The volumes of the Annali ecclesiastici for 1780–1782 were condemned by the Index with decrees of 3 December 1781 and 8 July 1782.