Transcript CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8
THE CHURCH GIVES
WITNESS IN WARS AND
REVOLUTIONS
PART IV - Bl. Pio Nono and the
Rise of Nationalism
In 1846, Pius IX was elected Pope

He visited hospitals and schools

Made improvements to the city
Allowed for greater toleration of
Roman Jews.

The Revolutions of 1848
By 1848, Metternich’s Europe—the tight
conservative grip that kept unhappy peasants
and unruly revolutionaries at bay—was slowly
weakening.
The spirit of revolution in central Europe was
linked to a desire for national unity.
The Revolutions of 1848
(cont’d)
In Italy-Pope Bl. Pius IX faced growing pressure to declare war on
Austria on behalf of Italy.
Italians wanted to win back the regions of Lombardy and
Venice that Austria seized during the Congress of Vienna.
Because of the pope’s popular liberal policies, many had
hoped that the pope would actually lead in the initiative to fight
Austria.
Not surprisingly, the pope refused to involve the papacy in a
war against another Catholic nation. He condemned the idea
of a federal Italy led by the pope and urged the Italian people
to stay faithful to their respective princes.
The Revolutions of 1848 (cont’d)
In the eyes of the people, Bl. Pio Nono’s
opposition to the revolution made him an
enemy.
The revolutions of 1848 and his exile from
Rome not only changed Bl. Pius IX’s political
position, but also the focus of his papacy.
To defend his sovereign territory, Bl. Pius IX
raised an international army of volunteers.
Ultramontanism
•The
ongoing liberal revolutions of the nineteenth century
divided Catholics.
•In Mainz, thinkers believed that liberal ideas were too
secular, rational, and anti-clerical.
•They began to look to the pope as the last defender of
the Catholic cause, the final bulwark against a liberal
world.
•ultramontanists (over the mountains) because as they
looked to the pope for support and leadership,
emphasizing his centrality and authority more than ever
before.
Ultramontanism (cont’d)
•In
Munich, another Catholic school recognized
an inevitable trend of European governments
towards liberal democracy and sought to build
bridges of mutual understanding between the
Church and democratic regimes.
•These thinkers were optimistic about modern
culture and believed that Church leaders could
co-exist with liberal ideas and that dialogue with
the modern world was beneficial for the future of
the Church.
The Immaculate Conception
Ironically, it was a religious proclamation, not a
political one that would bring the questions of
Liberalism and papal authority to the forefront of
debate within the Church.
In 1854, fours years after his return to Rome, Bl.
Pius IX solemnly defined the doctrine of Mary’s
Immaculate Conception.
“Theotokos” (literally, “bearer of God”).
The Immaculate Conception
(con’t)
Throughout the history of the Church, Mary had been venerated
as the Immaculate Conception
The Feast of Her Immaculate Conception had been celebrated
since 7th Century
th Century
Debate however continued during the 12
The Council of Trent specifically excluded Mary from its decree
that all have inherited the stain of original sin.
With all of this, the exact nature of the Immaculate Conception
was never officially defined as a dogmatic statement of the
Church

The Immaculate Conception
(con’t)
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was
not a surprising proclamation
But the way in which Bl. Pius IX proclaimed it
certainly was.
The Immaculate Conception was no longer
debated theologically
Bl. Pius IX had consulted with bishops before his
definition


But ultimately he defined this tenet of Faith on his authority as pope.
The Immaculate Conception
(con’t)
He spoke as the voice of the Church
 Not as the first among bishops
 Nor within the context of an
ecumenical council.
 This bold move implied that the authority
of the Church on doctrinal and moral
matters lay within the competence of the
papal office.

The Immaculate Conception
(con’t)
Four years later, in 1858, at the grotto of
Massabielle, in Lourdes, France, a young girl
named Bernadette Soubirous had a vision.
Mary appeared to the girl, proclaiming in the
ninth vision, “I am the Immaculate
Conception.” It seems that she was pleased
with Bl. Pius’ solemn declaration.

Our Lady of Lourdes (con’t)
In all, St. Bernadette received
eighteen visitations from Mary
over a six month period. The
Church declared the
apparitions authentic in 1862,
and today Lourdes is one of
the world’s most popular
pilgrimage sites. The
miraculous spring has healed
thousands of people from all
over the world.
The First Vatican Council
•Pope
Bl. Pius IX continued to assert his opposition
to the liberal world.
•In 1864, Bl. Pius issued the encyclical Quanta Cura
with its Syllabus of Errors.
•
the pope attacked many ideologies and opinions
that challenged Church authority
• Socialism
• Gallicanism
• Rationalism
• and the separation of Church and state.
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d)
•
The Syllabus of Errors condemned many errors prevalent in
nineteenth-century Europe
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
pantheism
naturalism
rationalism, whether absolute or moderate
false tolerance in religious matters
socialism
communism
secret societies
errors regarding the Church and her rights, especially in relation to the state
and errors regarding Christian Matrimony.
At
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d)
the time, all Catholics generally agreed that the pope
taught infallibly.
Some argued that the pope spoke as the first among all
bishops and did not agree that Church authority lay
exclusively in the pope himself.
Others argued that as the Vicar of Christ, the pope himself
was infallible and that all his letters, encyclicals, and
teachings stood as official Church doctrine.
On December 8, 1869, the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception, Bl. Pius IX opened the First Vatican Council to
help reconcile these growing divisions between members of
the Church.
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d):Papal infallibility
The
Galileo affair: the Holy Office—the Roman
congregation that advises the pope on doctrinal
questions—handled the inquiry and meted out the
punishment
 Although,
from a modern perspective, this matter should have
been handled better, the silencing of Galileo was a
disciplinary measure and not a doctrinal one.
It bears repeating: disciplinary actions do not fall with the
context of infallibility.
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d):Papal infallibility
 Proof
in favor of papal infallibility can be found in
both Scripture and Tradition.
Sacred Scripture includes three specific proofs.
Matthew 16:18 records Christ’s words to St. Peter:
“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,
and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”
This text contains the promise that St. Peter was to be
the rock-foundation of the Church, and it follows that
his successors are heirs to this promise.

Luke
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d):Papal infallibility
22:31-32 records Christ saying to St. Peter: “Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he
might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that
your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again,
strengthen our brethren.”
This prayer of Christ was specifically for St. Peter as head
of the Church.
John 21:15-17 recounts the post-Resurrection triple
command of Christ to St. Peter, culminating with: ‘“Simon,
son of John, do you love me?’…And he said to him, ‘Lord,
you know everything: you know that I love you.’ Jesus
said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’”
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d)
The whole of Christ’s flock is thus
entrusted to St. Peter and his
successors.
History has recorded many
statements in almost every century
to the effect of “Peter has spoken
through _____” (whoever was the
reigning pope at the time).
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d)
“On the Infallible Teaching Authority of the Roman Pontiff”:
We teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the
Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra, that is, when, in the exercise of
his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his
supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith
and morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the
divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility
which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining
doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of
the roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the
church, irreformable (Constitutio prima de Ecclesia [First Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church of Christ], 1870, 4.9).
The First Vatican Council
(cont’d)
This definition, approved by Bl. Pius IX, set specific parameters
for infallible papal teachings.
Therefore, without the necessary conditions for infallibility
encyclicals, letters, and homilies are simply ranked as ordinary
teachings of the pope.
Although these papal writings still enjoy very high authority of
opinion, they are not to be considered infallible teachings of
the Catholic Church on their own authority.
The Roman Question
In September 1870, Vittorio Emmanuele took Rome.
In November 1870, Italy passed the “Law of
Guarantees” to regulate the new relations between
Church and state. (A similar offer had been rejected
by Bl. Pius IX before the conquest of Rome.) The law
provided that the pope would retain all of the honors
and immunities of a sovereign. It gave the pontiff use of
the Vatican, the Lateran, and Castel Gandolfo, the
papal residence in the hills southwest of Rome, and
allotted him three and a half million lire each year as
compensation for his territorial losses.
What were these losses?
The Roman Question
(cont’d)
Significantly, the law also stated that the pope would appoint all the
Italian bishops (the highest concentration of bishops in the world).

Before
this time, papal appointment of bishops was not an
assumed or guaranteed privilege. Paradoxically, by losing control
of the Papal States, the pope gained greater moral authority in
administering the Church as a whole.
Pope Pius IX Responds

Bl. Pius IX refused to accept the “Law of Guarantees. Instead,
he locked himself inside the Vatican palace, declaring
himself a “prisoner of the Vatican.”
The Pope remained in this state until 1929 when Italy agreed to
an independent city-state and granted the pope possession
of his palaces, not just “use”.
The Roman Question (cont’d)
In the meantime, the pope was at the mercy of the
Italian state, and consequently, Church and state were
at odds.
The
government seized Church properties, took
responsibility for education away from religious orders,
monastaries were suppressed and religious orders
abolished.
The Roman Question (cont’d)
 In
1868, Bl. Pius IX had issued the decree
“Non expedit” which forbade Catholics
from participating in the Italian political
process, either by voting or running for
office.
 Catholics
became second class citizens in
their own country.