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PhilosophicalThought
rescuehim,sotheytookPopePiustoNorthernItalyandthentoFrance.Some
intheFrenchgovernmentaimedtodestroyboththetemporalandthespiritual
powerofthepapacy.Throughthenineteenthandmuchofthetwentiethcentury,
thememoriesoftheFrenchRevolutionandotherattacksonCatholicpersons
andinstitutionsshapedthementalityofmanyCatholicleaders.Tothedegree
thattheFrenchRevolutionrepresentedtheforcesofmodernWesternculture,
itwasseenasadirectthreattoCatholicidentity.
InthewakeoftheFrenchRevolution,therelationshipoftheCatholicChurch
andthemodernworldwasoftensharplyconflicted.PopeLeoXII,whoreigned
aspopefrom1823-29,wasveryconservative:“Hecondemnedreligioustolera-
tion,reinforcedtheIndexofForbiddenBooksandtheHolyOffice(formerly
theInquisition),reestablishedthefeudalaristocracyinthePapalStates,and
confinedJewsonceagaintoghettos.”5HeconfiscatedthepropertyoftheJews.
IntheSyllabusofErrors,issuedin1864,PopePiusIXfamouslycondemned
thenotionthatthepopeshouldreconcilehimselfwithprogress,liberalism,and
moderncivilization.WhatPiusmeantby“moderncivilization”wasthesepara-
tionofChurchandstate,freedomofconscienceinreligion,rebellionagainst
legitimateprinces,“thedissolvingofmonasteries,theinstitutionofcivilmar-
riage,andthedestructionofthesocialinfluenceoftheChurch.”6Butthestate-
mentwaswidelytakenoutofcontextassymbolicofafundamentallyantago-
nisticrelationshipbetweentheCatholicChurchandmodernWesternculture.To
besure,thereweremanyaspectstoCatholicrelationswithmodernculture,but
overallthedominanttendencieswereinimical.
ExacerbatingrelationshipswithotherreligionsandwithmodernWesterncul-
turewasthetraditionalCatholiccondemnationofreligiousliberty.Forcenturies
theCatholicChurchhadinsistedontherightofreligiousfreedomforitsfollow-
erswhentheywereinaminoritysituation.However,itdeniedinprincipleany
righttoreligiousfreedomforothersbecauseittraditionallybelievedthaterror
hasnorights.In1832,PopeGregoryXVIsharplycondemned“indifferentism”
inhisencyclicalMirariVos:“Thisperverseopinionisspreadonallsidesby
thefraudofthewickedwhoclaimthatitispossibletoobtaintheeternalsalva-
tionofthesoulbytheprofessionofanykindofreligion,aslongasmoralityis
maintained.”7Inlightofthisperspective,PopeGregorycondemnedthenotionof
libertyofconscienceinreligion:“Thisshamefulfontofindifferentismgivesrise
tothatabsurdanderroneouspropositionwhichclaimsthatlibertyofconscience
5RichardP.McBrien,LivesofthePopes:ThePontiffsfromSt.PetertoJohnPaulII(San
Francisco:HarperSanFrancisco,1997).
6OwenChadwick,AHistoryofthePopes1830-1914(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,
2003),174.
7PopeGregoryXVI,“MirariVos:OnLiberalismandReligiousIndifferentism,Encyclical,”
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Greg16/g16mirar.htm#par13,accessedJanuary9,2016.Seealso
Chadwick,23-25.
