Roman Catholic Church

Recent History As the church struggled to regain its stature, new challenges arose. One of them was modernity. It was characterized by the rise of free thinking and the belief that people need not answer to any outside authority (including the church). A number of ideas and trends played a part in this. These included Darwinism (the theory of human evolution), materialism (the denial of the importance or even the existence of spiritual reality), and atheism (disbelief in God). Socialism, an economic and philosophical system that sought to end the exploitation of workers by capitalists, targeted Christianity as oppressive. Some Catholics supported modernity. But the church did not. In 1864 Pope Pius IX (1792-1878) issued the famous Syllabus of Errors. This condemned many aspects of modernity. Pius also called the First Vatican Council in 1869. It was the first ecumenical council since the Council of Trent, which decreed that the pope is infallible. By this statement, the papacy acquired greater spiritual influence among Catholics. Pius' successor, Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903), further addressed issues of modernity in his encyclicals. (Encyclicals are letters written to the whole church.) One of the most significant encyclicals was Rerum Novarum (Of New Things), written in 1891. It is a statement of the social teachings of the church. Leo's ability to understand and deal with the issues of the day proved him to be a true spiritual leader. Meanwhile, other changes were brewing. Following the start of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the church lost its papal states to Italian nationalists who sought to unify the country. In protest, Pius IX became a voluntary "prisoner of the Vatican." This was addressed in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty. It established Vatican City, a small separate and independent territory that extends for acres around Saint Peter's Basilica. In the United States, the church was thriving. As a result of large-scale immigration from Europe, there were many new converts, religious orders, schools, and hospitals. Like the modern state, Roman Catholicism grew more centralized and bureaucratic. The Second Vatican Council Vatican II changed the church's attitude toward the modern world. This gathering of approximately 2,300 Catholic bishops opened in Vatican City in 1962. By the time it adjourned approximately three years later, it had produced 16 official documents which revolutionized Roman Catholicism.

The church had been undergoing reforms for decades. But Pope John XXIII (18811963), who called the council, did more to change the image of the church in the modern world than any previous pope. The council declared the church's respect for different cultures and religions. And it acknowledged the need for collaboration. It also recognized that in order to spread Christ's message even further, it was necessary to adapt church practices to differing customs, rituals, and cultural values. In addition, greater importance was placed on "full conscious and active participation" in the Mass among Catholics. That meant, among other things, that Masses could be held in the language of the people, not in Latin as they had been. An increased emphasis on political activism and human rights was another result of Vatican II. Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) himself hastened the collapse of Soviet communism by his support of Poland's Solidarity movement, and by his vigorous moral and spiritual leadership in general. In many parts of the world today, Catholics are among the leading advocates of democratic values and human rights. Following John Paul's death, 115 cardinals from 52 countries met on April 19, 2005, and elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the Supreme Pontiff, or 265th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Ratzinger chose the title Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict XVI, who worked closely with John Paul II for over two decades, was born in Germany in 1927. Since becoming pope, he has continued John Paul II's emphasis on the Roman Catholic Church's traditional values. Reviewed by Kevin Madigan Harvard Divinity School Go to Top of Page

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"Roman Catholic Church." Reviewed by Kevin Madigan. The New Book of Knowledge. Grolier Online, 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.