Giving themselves fancy titles like 'Vicar of Christ', Popes had become
autocratic and resisted challenges to their authority. As Europe
modernised in the 19th century, the Popes resisted these trends as
threatening their authority. Pope
Leo XII (1823-29) forbade vaccination against smallpox as being ‘against
natural law’
[When they Popes couldn't find a Bible passage to back their claims,
they invoked some fictional 'natural law']
Gregory XVI (1831-46) even banned the railway in the papal states,
calling it the hellway.
In 1832, he declared that democracy was sinful, and that freedom of the
press was 'heretical vomit'. He also decreed that any Jew who insulted
the Catholic religion should be killed.
Over the centuries, the Catholic Church had ensured its survival by
siding with the ruling classes. Popes had insisted on crowning and
dethroning European royalty.
As a result, the Church was rewarded with vast lands in Europe by royal
patrons and in Latin America by the Christian conquerors. The Popes
found themselves more engaged
in administering their huge estates than focusing on their spiritual
mission.
About 1880, the US Supreme Court had made corporations ‘juridical
persons’, a legal device that allowed them to own/hold property for
good. Some 30 years later, the
Popes followed the US precedent and made the Church a ‘juridical person’
with right to hold property. Furthermore, this right was enshrined in
Canon Law (1917).
Then came the backlash. The leaders behind the Protestant Reformation
were the first to seize church lands. The French revolutionaries did
likewise, declaring them to be national goods.
Then in 1848, nationalist fervour swept across Italy and a republic was
proclaimed in 1849. The new government stripped the pope of his secular
powers and confiscated some of the church lands.
In 1860 Italy was made a Kingdom and all the papal states were annexed.
In 1870 Rome became the capital of Italy and the pope was confined to a
small patch in the Vatican.
Pope IX would not resign himself to his diminished status and in
self-pity proclaimed himself the ‘Prisoner of the Vatican’
POPE LEO XIII’s writings
As usual with all previous popes, Leo was preoccupied with Europe and
addressed himself to the European elites. It should borne in mind that
what has been called
the Catholic faith was simply the set of doctrines & teachings set by
the Europeans together their choice of Saints. Brown & Black clerics had
no say in formulating doctrine.
wrote encyclicals expressing concern about the welfare of European
migrants (mostly Italian) into the US but there is no record of any
Papal concern for the
American Natives whose land & resources been grabbed by the migrants.
t was the first time that a pope had seriously addressed social
questions. It was in response to modernist thinking and the rise of
capitalist ideology. More than
one encyclical condemned socialism outright but there was none written
against capitalist excesses. Colonial wars, territorial conquest and
unequal treaties
were in full swing at the time round the globe but there was no
encyclical rebuking or restraining European imperialists against land
grab, colonial
brutality and naked aggression. For example, in 1885 King Leopold of
Belgium had taken personal possession of the Congo region and some ten
million Congolese died collecting teak, ivory
and rubber for despatch to Belgium.
Penalties were severe for not meeting the quota by the colonial masters.
These included the severing of hands.
Pope Leo did have diplomatic dealings with Belgium but there is no
record that he
officially condemned King Leopold’s atrocities.
=================================================
Eddie
