PILATI, CARLO ANTONIO. - Political writer, b. at Tassullo, near Trento, 28 Dec. 1733; d. there, 27 Oct. 1802.
Professor of civil law at Trento, he began his publicistic activity with a work entitled The Existence of Natural Law (Venice, 1764), placed on the Index by decree of 16 June 1766. Having left Trento, he settled in Chur, where he established a printing press. In 1767 there appeared the work On a Reform of Italy, or the Means of Reforming the Worst Customs and the Most Pernicious Laws of Italy (decree of the Holy Office, 29 July 1767), in which P. maintains that, after the abolition of the Inquisition, a deeper and more heartfelt religious spirit might be attained through the abolition of the regular clergy, the reform of the secular clergy, and the education of the laity. The advisability of a policy hostile to religious Orders on the part of the Italian States is reaffirmed by P. in the work Reflections of an Italian upon the Church in General, upon Both the Regular and Secular Clergy, upon the Bishops and Roman Pontiffs, and upon the Ecclesiastical Rights of Princes (decree of the Holy Office, 1 March 1770). After travelling through half of Europe, he withdrew (1801) to his native town.