Glimpses of Church History
1. Period 1800-1878 The Age of Reason Napoleon Bonaparte of France had occupied the papal states and made Pius VI virtual prisoner. His successor, Pius VII (1800-23) signed an uneasy truce with Napoleon in 1801. Pius expected to crown him emperor in 1804 but Napoleon ended crowning himself. This effectively marked the end of the so called ‘Holy Roman Empire’ that had begun with Charlemagne in 800. Napoleon re-annexed the papal states in 1809. When Pius issued a bull of excommunication, Napoleon had the pope arrested and detained until 1814. Pius VII restored the Society of Jesus which had been dissolved in 1773. He also set up a new Congregation for the Propagation of Faith. He and succeeding popes found themselves confronting a growing materialistic outlook and religious indifference in Europe. They blamed it on Protestant missionary work and secret societies like the freemasons. Pope Leo XII (1823-29) forbade vaccination against smallpox as being ‘against natural law’. Pius VIII (1829-30) ruled that the children from mixed marriages must be brought up as Catholics.
Gregory XVI (1831-46) opposed all modernist trends and even banned the railway in the papal states, calling it the hellway. In 1832, he declared that democracy was sinful, and freedom of the press was 'heretical vomit'. He also decreed that any Jew who insulted the Catholic religion should be killed.
Pius IX forced to flee The next pope, Pius IX, reigned for an eventful 32 years. He became pope at a time of rising nationalism and anti-clericalism in Italy. He had become unpopular over the Italian war against Austria. In November 1848, the pope's secretary of state was stabbed to death and in the same month the pope fled in disguise to Gaeta in the kingdom of Naples. In 1849, the government declared Rome a republic, curbed the pope’s secular powers and took over church lands. In 1850, with French help, the pope returned, his mind set against any kind of liberal reforms. Like his predecessor Gregory XVI, he opposed the constitutions of the emerging republics in Europe because they granted freedom of conscience and advocated democracy. He was alarmed that Protestants and Jews were to have their own schools and colleges. The Austrian constitution was condemned in the words: “We declare these laws to be null and void. We exhort their authors and all who have dared to propose, approve and execute them to remember the censures and spiritual penalties incurred ipso facto...”
Saga of the Immaculate Conception It was Pope Pius IX who raised the Immaculate Conception to the status of dogma. Until the 12th century, Christians believed that Mary was conceived in ‘original sin’ like everybody else. Pope Gregory the Great (1073-85) had declared clearly: “Christ alone was conceived without sin.” The reasoning was that the sex act is sinful and hence all are born with original sin. Mary was conceived normally, therefore in sin. Christ was conceived virginally and hence sinless. The Orthodox Church (Greek and Roman) believed the same. The great 13th century theologian Thomas Aquinas also believed that Mary was conceived in sin. Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) had created a new feast, that of Mary’s Conception and attached a special indulgence to those who observed it. He later clarifed in a bull that the Feast was to honour Mary’s conception, not her sanctification. The Council of Trent (1545-63) had failed to resolve the issue. The Feast of the Conception was allowed but in 1622 Gregory forbade the use of the word ‘immaculate’. Pope Clement XI thought differently. In 1701 he made the Immaculate Conception a feast of obligation. Pope Gregory XVI (1831-46) said the church inclines towards the immaculate conception but never made it an article of faith.
Dominicans stage a hoax Then a noted Franciscan theologian of the time, John Duns Scotus, proposed that immaculate conception was a possibility. Mary was ‘immunized’ against original sin when she was conceived. His fellow Franciscans supported the new idea as did growing popular opinion. But the Dominicans (the other major religious order) clung to the view of Aquinas.
In 1507, a holy and humble Dominican monk, Brother Letser, from Berne claimed that Mary appeared to him. She had confirmed that she was indeed conceived in original sin, and was sanctified only three hours after conception. She was not happy with the Franciscan campaign promoting her so called immaculate conception. As a sign of the vision’s authenticity, the monk produced a cross stained with the blood of Jesus and three of his tears. He said Mary had given it to him. She had also handed him a letter for the pope, Julius II, who was occupied at the time waging war complete with sword in hand. Further proof of the vision came from a statue of the Virgin weeping copiously for the errors of the Franciscans. The statue drew large crowds. An investigation was started and it turned out that the Dominicans had staged an elaborate hoax to prop up their case and discredit the Franciscans.
Pius IX for Dogma
Syllabus of Errors
In 1860, the kingdom of Italy was created and the
papal states were annexed. Only Rome was left to the pope. The new arrangements
were in effect a sober reminder that the pope was a spiritual leader and no
more. Instead of accepting this position, Pius IX became increasingly
intransigent, rejecting the fundamental tenets of the European Enlightenment and
the French Revolution - the notion of ‘progress’, liberalism and the primacy of
reason. In 1862, a petition signed by 12,000 priests implored the pope to be
conciliatory and accept the signs of the times. He rejected their pleas and had
them disciplined. In 1864, Pius IX issued a declaration (usually called a
Syllabus) condemning 80 propositions as errors. It appeared with the encyclical
Quanta Cura.
The pope’s Syllabus provoked much surprise and amusement. British Prime Minister Gladstone and US President Lincoln were dismayed that the pope was opposed to progress and liberalism. Punch magazine noted through a poem that the Syllabus was about “Denying people’s rights to choose their rulers by election, condemning free press, conscience and liberal constitution.” The Anglican Times expressed ‘disgust and derision’ while the London Times commented sarcastically: “There is scarcely a political system in Europe, except the papal government, that does not rest on principles declared to be errors.”
Prisoner of the Vatican Pius IX did not stop with his Syllabus. Determined to assert papal authority and oppose modernism, he summoned Vatican Council I in 1869, the first such Council in 300 years. This Council issued decrees condemning contemporary materialism and atheism. It also defined a new doctrine: the Dogma of Papal Infallibility in 1870 (see opposite page). In 1870, Rome itself was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and made its capital. When King Victor Emmanuel sought an audience to explain the position, the pope refused and excommunicated him - four times. The pope failed to come to terms with his diminished status and declared himself ‘the Prisoner of the Vatican’ until his death in 1878. Holy pictures were circulated showing Pius lying on a bed of straw in a fetid dungeon whereas, in truth, he was quite comfortable. Relations between the Vatican and Italian state were only settled with the Lateran Treaty in 1929.
Reference
1. Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ, Corgi
Books (1994) 3. Roberto de Mattei (trans by J Laughland), Blessed Pius IX, Gracewings (2004) |