Unit VIII the Church in the Modern Age 1800-2000

Unit VIII—The Church in the Modern Age—1800-2000

A. The Primacy of Peter strikes back

1) Bd. Pius IX vs. Secular Nationalism

It was under his reign that Secular Nationalists took the Papal States from him.

In response, Pius decided to strengthen the spiritual authority of the Church and the Primacy of Peter.

a) Promotion of Spiritual life: Pius wanted to help the spiritual life of ordinary Catholics

1854: he proclaimed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, [which was how Our Lady of Lourdes identified herself to St. Bernadette] i.e., Mary was conceived without original sin.
1856: he extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the whole world, not just in France (where it originated).
Like John Paul II, he canonized an unprecedented number of people.
Still, by 1859 Garibaldi took the Papal States and Victor Emmanuel II was crowned 2 years later.

b) 1864—Quanta Cura & the Syllabus of Errors

Pius knew that Secular Nationalism was a result of the philosophies of the Rationalists.
So, he decided to use philosophy to promote the Catholic response.
In 1864, he published his encyclical Quanta Cura (“With Such Care”).
In it, he condemns 16 philosophical ideas that contributed to the rise of Rationalism and Secular Nationalism (e.g., “Public opinion forms the supreme law”).
Pius also included a Syllabus (list) of Errors that condemned ideas like rationalism, socialism, communism, liberal capitalism, freemasonry, religious indifferentism, etc…
This was one of the most controversial events of his papacy; Pius is still criticized today for these documents.
These measures helped, but Pius felt he needed to do more.

c) Vatican Council I (1869-1870)

On June 29, 1869, Pius summoned the world’s 700+ bishops to an ecumenical council.
Since Pius was still the “Prisoner of the Vatican,” he decided to hold it in the Vatican.
So, the council opened its 1st session on Dec. 8, 1869—the day he set as the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
This was the first major ecumenical council since the Council of Trent in the 16th century.
The first 3 sessions dealt with basic matters of the Catholic faith and touched on the errors he attacked in Quanta Cura.
In the 4th session, he took his boldest step when he declared the idea of Papal Infallibility as a dogma that all Catholics had to believe.
Papal Infallibility was the idea that Pope could not make an error when all four following conditions were present:

[1] he spoke as the successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ

[2] he explicitly used his authority by the Primacy of Peter

[3] he discussed matters of faith and morals

[4] he spoke to the universal Church.

When the Pope uses all 4 conditions, he speaks ex cathedra (“out of the chair”).
Popes have had this power from the times of St. Peter; it was only now (July 18, 1870) that it was formally defined and agreed to by all the bishops.
In history up to today, popes have used this power sparingly.

Assignment

1)Define Papal Infallibility and its 4 essential conditions.

2)Explain how this dogma and Quanta Cura were reactions to Rationalism and Secular Nationalism.

3)Show from previous units you studied how popes have used papal infallibility before Vatican I.