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Chapter Nineteen |
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Secularization, the Defense of Religion and Pluralism |
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The churches in Politics and Society from 1870-1939 |
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| I. | Introduction--With varying degrees of speed, the phenomenon of secularization spread throughout Europe. Daily life slipped gradually out of the sphere of the church. The European governments gradually took control of those institutions that had formally been the church's domain; i.e., civil service to the poor, teaching, welfare and hospital care. In this atmosphere the church felt dispossessed and hurled themselves into a stance of defense. It was a time when the civil authorities and the church authorities needed to redefine their roles in society. | |||
| A. | Across Europe up to 1914 | |||
| 1. | The popes and Italy | |||
| a. | Three Popes--Pope Pius IX died in 1878 after thirty two years as pope, the longest pontificate in history. Pope Leo XIII reigned for the next twenty five years. Firm in his principles, he was an accommodating man with a sense of what was possible and was concerned with all the important issues of his era. In 1903, the conclave to elect a new pope saw the absolute last time civilian politics entered into the election of a new pope. Pope Pius X was elected and he was a pastoral pope. He was primarily concerned with children's communion, music and liturgy, and the reorganization of seminaries. He hated politics and stuck rigidly to his principles and was canonized in 1954 as a saint. | |||
| b. | Neither electorate nor elected--the papacy refused to come to terms with the Italian government and the pope felt like a prisoner in the Vatican. Catholics were forbidden to enter into political life, neither allowed to elect or be elected to political offices. Anti-clerical governments rose up in Italy and the friction between them and the church increased. Processions and pilgrimages were forbidden. Monasteries were stripped of their possessions. Italians were torn between their church and their nationalism towards Italy. Opus Dei organization arose which was a lay organization devoted to furthering the laity's role of increasing lay awareness of spirituality and religious training. | |||
| B. |
Germany |
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| 1. | The Kulturkampf--in 1871 the proclamation of the German empire sealed the incorporation of Prussia into the German domain by Kaiser Wilhelm Catholics were uneasy about this predominantly Protestant emperor ruling all of Germany. Two thirds of Germany was Catholic with only one third being Lutheran, the ruling third. Catholic lay people formed their own political party to counter any political reforms in Germany made by this Protestant emperor. Papal infallibility caused great concern in the Lutheran circles and Kaiser Wilhelm was irritated that his Germany was divided between Catholics and Protestants. So he attacked the Church for political reasons. Jesuits were expelled from the country and all clergy were forced to study in German universities. Preachers who criticized the government were persecuted with fines and imprisonment and still the Church resisted. | |||
| a. | Appeasement--gradually the rules of the Kulturkampf were dropped and the relations between the government and the church improved. The only blocks to total reunion was the issue of the Jesuits and the law making civil marriages mandatory. | |||
| C. | The other countries of Europe--Austria and Switzerland experienced the same kind of struggles the Germans did; i.e., schools and marriage was secularized and monasteries were suppressed. Belgium and the Netherlands struggled over the issue of who would run the schools and here a compromise was reached between secular and parochial schools. | |||
| 1. | The Iberian peninsula--in Spain and Portugal religious conflicts flared into violence many times. In Spain there were alternating periods good relations of church and state and other times of extreme clericalism. From 1873-1875 and 1909-1912 the churches were persecuted. Churches and monasteries were sacked and priests assassinated. In Portugal in 1908, it declared itself an extremely anticlerical republic, attacked religious orders and declared the separation of church and state. | |||
| a. | England--in England the church continued to gain ground and became the spokesman for the poor and industrialized workers. Several new Cardinals were named for England and the faithful gained a renewed sense of Catholicism without persecution from the government. Ireland was struggling with poverty, famine and mass emigration in spite of Rome's silence on their plight. | |||
| II. |
French Catholics and the Third Republic |
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| A. |
The Republicans and the beginnings of laicization |
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| 1. | Republicans and Catholics--Republicans were those classes of people who were defined by their admiration in France for the Revolution that released them from the bond of the nobility and priests. Republican became synonymous with "enemy of religion" and they wanted to secularized all of those institutions that the church had a firm hold on such as schools, hospitals etc... | |||
| a. Rallying--Pope Leo XIII wanted Catholics to side with the existing monarchy in order to safeguard their own interests in France and this became known as ralliement. The pope insisted that all people acknowledge and accept the existing institutions of the Church. It was not well received by the public and he wrote an encyclical that stated Catholics were obliged to fight any legislation that would challenge the Church holdings in France. Although the next highest writing of a pope in the life of the church the people only paid lip service to it. | ||||
| B. |
Towards the separation of Church and State |
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| 1. | The Dreyfuss affair and the revival of anti-clericalism--the Jewish Captain, Alfred Dreyfuss was accused of treason in 1894, not a religious matter. He was convicted and sent to prison. In 1898 his conviction was overturned and he was given a retrial and acquitted. Catholics used this trial to focus their anti-semitic feelings towards Jews. Catholics thought all of the evils of the Church sprang from a Jewish conspiracy. When Alfred was acquitted they felt that the honor of the army had been damaged since many Catholics were in the army. This became a set back for French Catholics and they polarized into extreme right wing political groups. Not very Christian. | |||
| a. | The Struggle against the Congregations--in 1902 the French government took on an increasingly anti-clerical stance once again. They closed 3000 religious schools. They forbade any religious orders from teaching in any institutions. Religious were to return to the secular state or be expelled from the country. Anti- clericalism increased to an unprecedented degree and Catholics came under attack again. Big brother moved into France and many of the faithful were either imprisoned or murdered for their faith. It was a time of extreme nationalism of anything French and science and church life was to be hated. | |||
| b. | The separation of church and state--in 1904 the Vatican broke all diplomatic relations with France. This finalized the separation of church and state in France and there was no clear resolution to the impasse. | |||
| See Handout #239 | ||||
| See Handout #240 | ||||
| See Handout #241 | ||||
| c. | The Advantage of a crisis--this was a painful memory of Catholics in France and the wounds healed slowly. The French church became impoverished through their losses of institutions and lands. Between 1905 and 1914 ordinations fell to less than half. The church with no money of their own appealed to the faithful for support. Priests went to work at secular jobs just to sustain their life. In the long run this separation of church and state was better for the Catholic church. Anti-clericalism decreased and religious freedom began to appear again and bishops began to rebuild places of worship without fear of persecution. This renewed separation contributed to the reconciliation of French bishops with the pope in Rome, who now selected them directly without interference from the French government. | |||
| III. |
From the First World War to the 1930's |
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| A. | Christians in the Great War--during the 1914-1918 war, Catholics identified themselves completely with the objectives of their countries. Being Catholic did not make one any less patriotic and when the Germans attacked the other European countries they both claimed God was on their side. This put pope Benedict XV in a difficult position since he had Catholics on both sides of the war. In France the war brought Catholics into community with their fellow countrymen. Religious forced into exile earlier returned to fight for their country and France became unified again. | |||
| 1. | Pope Benedict XV's peace proposals--since he was torn between nations fighting with each other and all of them Catholic he encouraged humanitarian efforts on both sides by exchanges of the wounded and forming army chaplains on both sides. He pleaded for peace and even offered to be the mediator between the warring factions. It was not well received and he underestimated the extent of the war where no compromise could be reached, but the enemy had to be defeated. | |||
| See Handout #242 | ||||
| See Handout #243 | ||||
| 2. |
Post-war attempts at reconciliation |
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| a. | A new Europe--Germany lost much of its conquered lands from the war and Austria was carved up into several states. Poland and the Baltic countries regained their own independence and in 1921 Ireland gained its independence from England. | |||
| b. | Reconciliation-the ten years following the war were marked by numerous conflicts between the church and governments. Even in Russia there seemed to be a break in allowing the Vatican to help victims of war and famine. The result was an ever increasing anti-clericalism in Russia where Orthodox priests and nuns were executed by the thousands. In 1920 Joan of Arc was canonized and diplomatic relations with France and Rome occurred. | |||
| c. |
The Lateran Accords (1929)--Pope Pius XI signed concordats (agreements) with Italy. Mussolini hoped to gain some prestige from it by recognizing the sovereignty of the pope over the Vatican City State. The Vatican agreed to five in harmony with the state of Italy and a new era of history between Italy and the Vatican began. This concordat was renewed in 1945 and in 1984. |
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| d. | Catholic Action and Action Francaise--Catholic Action was a coalition of Catholic youth banned together to promote Christian living throughout Europe. Action Francaise continued to be an anti-Catholic, anti-clerical movement in Europe, but in France they could no longer stand up to the Catholic youth movement and the 1930's became the golden age of French Catholicism. | |||
| C. |
Christians against Totalitarianism |
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| 1. | Italian Fascism-after the war Italian Catholics could participate in politics once again. It didn't last long since Mussolini and the Fascists took control of Italy. Fascist Italian for "a group of old warriors". Italy did not get everything out of the war they had hoped for and they were left in economic difficulties with strikes and work stoppages. Catholic conservatives saw Mussolini and the Fascists as the answer to Italy's woes. They were wrong and slowly Fascism moved into totalitarianism. One government is in control and outlaws any other form of government from coming into existence. This regime quickly moved into an anti-Catholic, anti-clerical mode. Youth groups were disbanded and Pope Pius XI reacted fiercely with an encyclical protesting against the totalitarian regime. He couldn't push it too far since most of his Catholics were also nationalists; i.e., they loved their homeland. | |||
| a. | German Nazism--rose out of Germany's defeat in World War I in which the right wingers saw the work of foreign agents; i.e., Jews, socialists and Bolsheviks as the enemies of all Germans. Hitler gathered this disgruntled group and formed his National Socialist Party out of them and set his plan into action from his book Mein Kampf(my struggle). It is a racist, antisemitic and anti-Christian book and the bishops condemned it and Hitler's stance by saying a German could not be Nazi and Catholic. In 1933 Hitler came to power and the Catholics did not want to appear to be bad Germans sided up with him. With the aid of the Catholic vote Hitler held the majority vote he now held full power over the government. It did not take long for his power structure to begin slandering the clergy, demand racial measures be taken to eliminate inferiors from Germany and dissolve all Catholic movements within the country. Hitler was in control. | |||
| b. | Atheistic Communism--since 1917 Socialism had a fatherland in Russia. The communists were very anti-church and persecution of the Orthodox churches began. In 1931 in Spain, General Franco started a civil war that lasted for three years and a million people were murdered by his army. 2000 churches were burned to the ground and 7000 priests massacred. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy gave Franco aid to carry out his slaughter of his own people in Spain. | |||
| See Handout #244 | ||||
| See Handout #245 | ||||
| See Handout #246 | ||||
| c. | The Popular Front in France--a movement in France was underway to collaborate between communism and Catholicism and it seemed to work. Political pluralism in France prevailed amongst the Catholics in France. | |||
| See Handout #247 | ||||
| d. Pope Plus XI against Totalitarianism-- stood his ground against Nazism and Communism. He wrote an encyclical that condemned racism, anti-Semitism and idolatry of the state. World War II broke out right after Pope Pius XI died in 1939. | ||||
| Handouts | ||||
| 239 | The militant laicism of the socialist deputy Maurice Allard (10 April 1905). Rantings about religion being an obstacle to progress. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 240 | The Separation law (9 December 1905). Church and state separated in France. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 241 | The encyclical Vehementer (11 February 1906) of Pius X. Pius argues against separating church from state. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 242 | The Church in the 1914-1918 War. Catholics killing Catholics and the Pope caught in the middle of nationalism vs. Catholicism/Christianity. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 243 | Address by the Dominican Fr. Sertillanges on French peace. Tells the Pontiff reasons why Frenchmen will not accept the Holy Father's proposal. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 244 | Italian Facism. Catholicism put them there and now they receive limitations they must follow. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 245 | German national Socialism. Pius XI condemns German nationalism. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 246 | Atheistic Communism. Pius XI condemns it. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 247 | The Spanish Civil War. Franco wages war against his own people. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
