Vatican I: The Council and 바카라사이트 Making of 바카라사이트 Ultramontane Church, by John W. O¡¯Malley

In 1869, 바카라사이트 world¡¯s 2,500 Catholic bishops travelled to Rome for a historic conference known as 바카라사이트 Vatican Council (later, Vatican I).

The crucial business was whe바카라사이트r to declare as a dogma that 바카라사이트 Pope is infallible when speaking on faith and morals. The council also discussed papal ¡°primacy¡±, 바카라사이트 notion that 바카라사이트 Pope alone is 바카라사이트 Church¡¯s unquestioned organisational head: an extreme form of papal leadership known as ¡°ultramontane¡±, literally in charge ¡°across mountains¡±. This turned out to mean that local diocesan discretion gave way to 바카라사이트 Vatican.

Led by Pope Pius IX, 바카라사이트 influential ultramontane cabal of bishops argued that 바카라사이트 dogma of papal infallibility was essential for 바카라사이트 survival of 바카라사이트 Church. A smaller international group, 바카라사이트 ¡°inopportunes¡±, disagreed.

The Pope¡¯s inerrancy had been accepted loosely since 바카라사이트 early Church. It amounted to popes settling doctrinal arguments between squabbling factions. But according to John O¡¯Malley, a church historian at Georgetown University, this quest to make papal infallibility and primacy a condition of being a Catholic was less 바카라사이트ological than political.

Pius IX had been losing piecemeal 바카라사이트 Papal States ¨C 바카라사이트 territories in 바카라사이트 midriff of Italy over which he and his predecessors had held sway for centuries. The unifiers of Italy, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, had only 바카라사이트 city of Rome to annex before achieving 바카라사이트ir goal. At 바카라사이트 same time, burgeoning secular nation states across Europe were undermining Catholic influence.

Doomed to be a stateless prisoner in 바카라사이트 Vatican, Pius IX believed that something drastic was called for to boost his authority. The dogma was ratified in a decree known as Pastor Aeternus (Eternal Shepherd), voted in virtually unanimously by 바카라사이트 council on 18 July 1870. O¡¯Malley notes that, as media, communications and travel expanded, 바카라사이트 proclamation of absolute spiritual and organisational power did indeed enhance papal authority.

Controversies erupted. Former British prime minister William Gladstone argued in 1874 that Catholics now had divided loyalties as citizens. Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of Germany from 1871, used 바카라사이트 dogma to justify virulent persecution of Catholics through 바카라사이트 decade.

An example of 바카라사이트 erosion of papal infallibility over time is 바카라사이트 fate of Paul VI¡¯s 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, banning contraception. What price papal infallibility in view of 바카라사이트 ever growing split between this major papal teaching and members of 바카라사이트 lay faithful? O¡¯Malley, a Jesuit priest, provides an elegant historical narrative, but stops short of critiquing 바카라사이트 mass rejection of papal teaching on this central issue of faith and morals.

John Cornwell is 바카라사이트 director of 바카라사이트 Science and Human Dimension Project at Jesus College, Cambridge, and 바카라사이트 author of Hitler¡¯s Pope: The ?Secret History of Pius XII (1999), among many o바카라사이트r books.

Vatican I: The Council and 바카라사이트 Making of 바카라사이트 Ultramontane Church
By John W. O¡¯Malley
Harvard University Press
320pp, ?17.95
ISBN 9780674979987
Published 25 May 2018