History of the Modern Church:
Modern Catholicism
I.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Enlightenment Revolution
A. Response to the Protestant Reformation
1. While the Protestant church had a view of reforms that were forward-looking, the
RCC had a view that was backward looking.
2. On the whole, Catholicism remained the religion of the Romance people who lagged
behind economically, politically and culturally within Europe, with the exception of
France, where the RCC had taken a stronghold, but was entirely separated from the
political scene.
3. The RCC lost strength because the “freedom of a Christian” of the Reformation
allowed people to place emphasis on personal responsibility and autonomy, opposed
to the blind submission to the dictates of the pope and his interpretation of the
Bible.
B. Response to the Copernican Revolution and Enlightenment Reasoning
1. In 1616, Copernicus was put on the Index of banned books – the RCC became an
institution that was more about defense against anything new rather than about
intellectual and cultural competence in a changing society.
2. In the early 1600’s, many scientists were burned or imprisoned by the RCC for their
teachings.
a. Galileo stood trial and recanted what he said in 1633 and lived his last 8 years
under house arrest.
b. Incredible fear throughout Europe for speaking against the Catholic Church on
behalf of the progress of science.
3. Biblical Scholasticism was crushed by the RCC when the Bible came under secular
scrutiny. The popes banned any professional biblical scholastic undertakings.
a. The only reason the bible is the best-investigated book in the history of the world
is because Protestant exegetes came to the fore.
C. Consequences of the Enlightenment for the Roman Catholic Church
4. The Catholic Church continued to lose power and authority as the idea of “progress”
developed, aided by the discoveries of new continents, and the
inventions/improvements of the telescope and microscope.
a. For the first time in all of the history of Christianity, culture and religion society
and church drifted apart, and a secular world with moral principles was
established not on the basis of church, but on human autonomy and reason.
b. Belief in “progress” became the modern leading value, just behind the realization
of happiness. Human self-determinism and human power over the world became
a substitute religion, not based on the pope or the bible, but on human
autonomy and reason.
5. Wars of religion were viewed as inhuman and un-Christian, since medieval and
Reformation belief in the devil, demons and magic no longer fit the paradigm of
reason.
6. Indulgences, pilgrimages, monasteries, compulsory celibacy, and Latin came under
fire.
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II.
7. The popes, with the exception of Benedict XIV in mid-1700’s, all became insignificant
and reacted to modern society with sweeping condemnations and stereotypes.
a. Catholic rulers were often the only supporters of the papacy.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Two Hundred Years
A. Starts with the French Revolution (1789-1799) when lower classes in the Franco-Catholic
revolted against the aristocratic, dehumanizing society. They capitalized on the
enlightenment principles of autonomy and freedom – inalienable human rights.
1. Until this time, France had been the seat of secular power for the RCC, having a say
not only in church affairs in the nation, but a say in government also.
2. Once Napoleon came in and started expanding the empire in the early 1800’s, other
nations were weakened as they succumbed to his regime. Napoleon lost the war in
the Battle of Waterloo in 1812 and France fell into a state of turmoil.
3. For the rest of the 19th century, Britain became the ruling nation in the Western
world.
B. Establishment of Democracy and Industrialization
1. Out of the French Revolution came the start of a true democratic state, where
neither the pope nor the monarch ruled, but the people. Yet, there was a desire for
the “good old days,” where there was a moral authority to look to such as the
hierarchical system of the monarchy and the papacy. The RCC came back into focus,
at least for a time.
a. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, the Napoleonic Code was abolished as a
system of law and the premodern papal legislation was reintroduced. Seven
hundred cases of heresy were investigated by the Holy Office. The pope even
spoke out about things like railways, gas lighting, suspension bridges, etc.
b. It was the time of Romanticism, which glorified the medieval social structure all
over Europe and suppressed the Enlightenment. Yet, revolutions throughout
Europe continued in response the papacy and aristocratic governments.
c. Democracy continued to find foundations throughout Europe.
2. At the same time, the industrial/technical revolution was taking place. Lightning
conductors, spinning machines, mechanical looms, steam engines fueled with coal,
building of roads, bridges and canals, development of the locomotive, the steamship,
telegraphy, and after 1825, the first railway in England.
a. Major change for social and economic conditions; industry explosion.
b. An industrial capitalist society replaced the aristocratic society
c. New class conflicts started with many of the working population getting low
wages, long working hours, miserable living conditions; exploitation of women
and children at work
d. Socialists emerged, such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who wrote about the
concern for social justice, and therefore with a “juster” social order.
3. Out of the industrial revolution and miserable conditions, the RCC gained popularity
again, along with the Protestant and Anglican churches, when they became an
advocate for the poor and lower classes in need.
4. The Catholic People’s Association, the greatest Catholic association in the world, was
formed, and reforms were made in the clergy and laity, in the missionary movement,
in charitable work and education.
5. Charles Darwin espoused his idea of evolution in 1859 and in the same decade, Pope
Pius IX in 1854 established his own dogma: the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
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6. Mid-1800’s – the RCC back on the defensive: Rejected clerical associations and Bible
societies, condemned new declared human rights, along with freedom of conscience,
religion, the press and civil marriages; condemned pantheism, naturalism, and
rationalism, socialism, and Communism
a. With this, the Catholic Church had nothing to offer modern mankind.
C. First Vatican Council (1871)
1. A new ecumenical council was convened in 1869 in Rome in the Vatican to address
the questions facing the papacy: Should the papal state be given up? Due to the
liberalism, socialism, rationalism, etc. that had taken over Europe, Rome had shriveled
to almost nothing.
2. The leaders of the RCC thought that only defining papal primacy and infallibility by
the ecumenical council could keep the Church alive.
3. Pope Pius IX went around trying to gain support again for the Church by declaring
that the Pope was infallible and the Church was their only supporter.
4. Many bishops were supporters of Pope Pius IX, but many knew him to be a
dangerous man with superficial theological training, unfamiliar with modern scientific
methods, egocentric, and surrounded by narrow-minded advisors.
a. Many knew the counterarguments the RCC history had against papal infallibility.
5. After weeks of debates and the pope refusing any objections and compromises, on
July 18, 1870, two papal dogmas were passed.
a. “The pope has a legally binding primacy of jurisdiction over every single national
church and every individual Christian.”
b. “The pope possesses the gift of infallibility in his own solemn magisterial
decisions. These solemn (ex cathedra) decisions are infallible on the basis of
special support from the Holy Spirit and are immutable (irreformable)
intrinsically, not by virtue of the assent of the church.”
6. By the time the dogmas were passed, archbishops and bishops from around the
world had walked out.
7. The Old Catholic Church
a. In response to the council decisions, in Germany in 1870/71, there were major
protests against it. Out of the protests was formed the Old Catholic Church – a
Catholic Church, but Rome free. It seeks to hold to the faith of the RCC of the
first seven ecumenical councils, grants autonomy to local churches, and accords
the pope no more than a station of honor.
b. Obligations introduced in the Middle Ages or only in the 19th century were
repudiated: compulsory celibacy, the obligation to go to confession once a year,
the cult of relics, the rosary, veneration of the heart of Jesus and the heart of
Mary
c. Recently the OCC has ordained women!
D. Between Councils
1. Between the First and Second Vatican Councils, a string of 4 popes filled the papacy.
Of those four, the first and third served to undo what Vatican I had done; they did
not lay claim to infallibility and took measures to reconcile the church and culture;
they corrected Rome’s negative attitude toward modernity, democracy and human
liberties. Pope Pius XI spoke out against Hitler up until he died a few months before
the outbreak of WWII.
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2. Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) said and did absolutely nothing during the Holocaust. The
Protestant and Anglican churches and even many Catholic Bishops were fighting for
the Jews, but the papacy did and said nothing. To this day, no Pope has apologized
for his silence.
3. After Vatican I, the RCC had completely turned in on itself and had little influence
on the larger culture.
E. Second Vatican Council
1. Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) – made pope at age 77; claimed to be the most
significant pope of the 2oth century.
a. He made great reconciliation progress with Jews around the world.
2. January 25, 1959, he announced the Second Vatican Council and opened the council
on October 11, 1962 and it lasted until 1965.
3. Outcomes:
a. Declared that the Church is constantly in need of reform
b. Other Christian denominations were officially recognized as churches
c. A new higher respect for the Bible in worship, theology and church live, and in
individual lives
d. Latin liturgy was changed to the vernacular
e. The cup was offered to laity in Eucharist
f. Affirmation of the freedom of religion and conscience and of human rights
g. Positive attitude toward modern progress, to the secular world, science and
democracy.
h. Desire to overcome the clerical, legalistic and triumphalist idea of the RCC
i. The priesthood of believers was reemphasized
j. The law of celibacy was abolished for deacons.
4. Issues not addressed:
a. Infallibility of the Pope
b. Celibacy
c. Contraception
d. Women in Ministry
F. The RCC Today
1. Like any branch of the Christian Church, there exists a range of sub-groups. Hyperconservatives who disregard Vatican II and maintain a Latin liturgy, etc. and hyperliberals who think Catholicism is just one road of many (including other religions) to
God.
2. Evangelical Catholics; Charismatic Catholics; Old Catholics.
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