As with any officially established religion, the Roman Catholic Church has had constantly evolving relationships with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history since the Theodosian decrees of 391 it has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the mediæval divine right of kings, from nineteenth and twentieth century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the appearance of left- and right-wing dictatorial regimes. Saint Peters Basilica in Rome. ... Flavius Theodosius (Cauca (modern Coca, Segovia, Spain), January 11, 347 - Milan, January 17, 395), also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great, was a Roman emperor. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Caesar Augustus. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... This article is about the doctrine; The Divine Right of Kings is also the title of a short poem by Edgar Allan Poe. ... In the social sciences, pluralism is a framework of interaction in which groups show sufficient respect and tolerance of each other, that they fruitfully coexist and interact without conflict or assimilation. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms that refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially but not exclusively in the American sense of the word... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Dictator was the title of a magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the state in times of emergency. ...

For some parallel entries, see Separation of church and state, Theocracy, Caesaropapism, Islam_as_a_political_movement The separation of church and state is a concept in modern thought and practice, whereby the structures of state or national government are kept separate from those of religious institutions. ... Theocracy is a form of government in which a religion and the government are allied. ... Caesaropapism is the phenomenon of combining the power of worldy (secular) government with the spiritual authority of the Christian Church; most especially, the subordination of the spiritual power of the Christian Church to governmental authority; in its extreme form, it is a political theory in which the head of state... Islam as a political movement has a diverse character that has at different times incorporated elements of many other political movements, while simultaneously adapting the religious views of Islamic fundamentalism. ...

Catholicism and the Roman Emperors

Early Christians were persecuted under the Roman Empire, but over the course of several centuries Christianity became accepted, ultimately taking on the character of a state religion. The Early Christians is a term used to refer to the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth, before the emergence of established Christian orthodoxy. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Caesar Augustus. ... Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life, teachings, death by crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. ... A state religion (also called an established church or state church) is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. ...

The papacy and the Divine Right of Kings

The doctrine of the divine right of kings, came to dominate mediæval concepts of kingship, claiming biblical authority (Epistle to the Romans, chapter 13). Augustine of Hippo in his work The City of God had stated his opinion that while the City of Man and the City of God may stand at cross-purposes, both of them have been instituted by God and served His ultimate will. Even though the City of Man --- the world of secular government --- may seem ungodly and be governed by sinners, it has been placed on earth for the protection of the City of God. Therefore, monarchs have been placed on their thrones for God's purpose, and to question their authority is to question God. This view discouraged Roman Catholics from taking action to overthrow even tyrannical governments. A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ... The Epistle to the Romans is one of the epistles, or letters, included in the New Testament canon of the Christian Bible. ... St. ... This article is about the work by St. ... The term God is used to designate a Supreme Being; however, there are countless definitions of God. ... Secularism means: in philosophy, the belief that life can be best lived by applying ethics, and the universe best understood, by processes of reasoning, without reference to a god or gods or other supernatural concepts. ... Sin has always been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disregard for the norms revealed by God is a sin. ... In politics, authority generally refers to the ability to make laws, independent of the power to enforce them, or the ability to permit something. ... A tyrant (from Greek τυραννος tyrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ...

This belief in the god-given authority of monarchs was central to the Roman Catholic vision of governance in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Ancien Régime. It believed that only God, and the Roman Catholic Church itself as God's agent, could depose a monarch. In a society based on an alliance of throne and altar, the Church itself became part of the mediæval governing elite. A senior cleric, usually an archbishop or cardinal anointed and crowned a monarch. Emperors were crowned by the Pope. During early medieval times, a near-monopoly of the Church in matters of education made it inevitable that monarchs would take churchmen as their advisors. This tradition continued even as education became more widespread. Prominent examples of senior members of the church hierarchy who advised monarchs were Thomas Cardinal Wolsey in England, and Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin in France; prominent, devoutly Catholic laymen like such as Sir Thomas More also served as senior advisors to monarchs. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... Ancien Régime means Old Rule or Old Order in French; in English, the term refers primarily to the social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop heading a diocese of particular importance due to either its size, history, or both, called an archdiocese. ... A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the Pope and appointed by him as a member of the College of Cardinals, during a consistory. ... An emperor is a monarch and sovereign ruler of an empire or any other imperial realm. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, PC (c. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Cardinal Richelieu was the French chief minister from 1624 until his death. ... Cardinal Jules Mazarin, French diplomat and statesman Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino; but best known as Cardinal Mazarin (July 14, 1602 – March 9, 1661) served as the France from 1642, until his death. ... Portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478–6 July 1535), posthumously known also as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, writer, and politician. ...

Besides advising monarchs, the Church held direct power in mediaeval society as a landowner, a power-broker, a policy maker, etc. Some of its bishops and archbishops were feudal lords in their own right, equivalent in rank and precedence to counts and dukes. Some were even sovereigns in their own right, and the Pope himself ruled the Papal States. Bishops played a prominent role in Holy Roman Empire as electors. As late as the 18th century, in the era of the Enlightenment, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, preacher to Louis XIV, defended the doctrine of the divine right of kings in his sermons. The Church was a model of hierarchy in a world of hierarchies, and saw the defence of that system as its own defence, and as a defence of what it believed to be a god-ordained system. A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who holds a specific position of authority in any of a number of Christian churches. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop heading a diocese of particular importance due to either its size, history, or both, called an archdiocese. ... A lord is one who has power and authority. ... Definition A count is a nobleman in most European countries, equivalent in rank to a British earl, whose wife is still a countess. Originally the title comes denoted the rank of a high courtier or provincial (military or administrative) official in the late Roman Empire: before Anthemius was made emperor... The term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Spain and France (in Italy, principe... A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state. ... The Papal States (Gli Stati della Chiesa or Stati Pontificii, States of the Church) is one of the historical states of Italy before its unity under the crown of Savoy and comprised those territories over which the Pope was the ruler in a civil as well as a spiritual sense... This page is about the Germanic empire. ... The prince-electors or electoral princes of the Holy Roman Empire — German: Kurfürst (singular) Kurfürsten (plural) — were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Emperors of Germany. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... For the period in European history, The Age of Enlightenment For the corresponding movement in the European Jewish community, see Haskalah. ... Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (September 27, 1627 - April 12, 1704) was a French bishop, theologian, and court preacher. ... (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1,rance]] and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ... Sermon is the name of 11th century ruler of Srem, vassal of Bulgarian emperor Samuel. ... A hierarchy (in Greek hieros, sacred, and arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things. ...

See also: Gallicanism, Guelph, Weiblingen, missi dominici, First Estate This article needs to be wikified. ... Guelph has several meanings: Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada. ... A Missus Dominicus (pl. ... In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term First Estate (Fr. ...

Catholic missionaries at the Chinese court

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci (October 6, 1552 - May 11, 1610) (Chinese: 利瑪竇; pinyin: Lì Mǎdòu) was an Italian Jesuit priest whose missionary activity in China during the Ming Dynasty marked the beginning of modern Chinese Christianity. ...

Popular democracy

The French Revolution

The central principle of the mediaeval, Renaissance and ancien régime periods, monarchical rule 'by God's will', was fundamentally challenged by the French Revolution. The revolution began as a conjunction of a need to fix French national finances and a rising middle class who resented the privileges of the clergy (in their role as the First Estate) and nobility (in their role as the Second Estate). The pent-up frustrations caused by lack of political reform over a period of generations led the revolution to spiral in ways unimaginable only a few years earlier, and indeed unplanned and unanticipated by the initial wave of reformers. Almost from the start, the revolution was a direct threat to clerical and noble privilege: the legislation that abolished the feudal privileges of the Church and nobility dates from August 4, 1789, a mere three weeks after the fall of the Bastille (although it would be several years before this legislation came fully into effect). The period of the French Revolution in the history of France covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term First Estate (Fr. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term Second Estate (Fr. ... Defining feudalism is difficult because there is no generally accepted agreement on what it means. ... August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 was an important development in, and later a symbol of, the French Revolution. ...

At the same time, the revolution also challenged the theological basis of royal authority. The doctrine of popular sovereignty said that state authority came ultimately from the people, not from God. The king was to govern on behalf of the state, and that state was answerable to the people. This was a far cry from Louis XIV's famous declaration, "L'etat c'est moi," ("I am the state") which identified royal interest with state interest. This philosophical difference over the basis of royal and state power was parallelled by the rise of a short-lived democracy, but also ny a change first from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy and finally to republicanism and regicide. Popular sovereignty is the doctrine that government is created by and subject to the will of the people, who are the source of all political power. ... (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1,rance]] and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ... Absolute monarchy is an idealized form of government, a monarchy where the ruler has the power to rule his or her country and citizens freely with no laws or legally-organized direct opposition telling him or her what to do, although some religious authority may be able to discourage the... A constitutional monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary or elected monarch as head of state. ... This article is on the political theory of republicanism. ... The broad definition of Regicide is the deliberate killing of a king, or the person responsible for it. ...

Under the doctrine of the divine right of kings, only the Church or God could interfere with the right of a monarch to rule. Thus the attack on the French absolute monarchy was seen as an attack on God's anointed king. In addition, the Church's leadership came largely from the classes most threatened by the growing revolution. The upper clergy came from the same families as the upper nobility, and the Church was, in its own right, the largest landowner in France.

The revolution was widely seen, both by its proponents and its opponents, as the fruition of the (profoundly secular) ideas of the Enlightenment. Resolutions such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, passed by the National Constituent Assembly, seemed to some in the church to mark the appearance of the antichrist, in that they excluded Christian morality from the new 'natural order'. The fast-moving nature of the revolution far outpaced Roman Catholicism's ability to adapt or come to any terms with them. For the period in European history, The Age of Enlightenment For the corresponding movement in the European Jewish community, see Haskalah. ... Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, (French: La Déclaration des Droits de lHomme et du citoyen), is one of the fundamental documents of the French Revolution, defining a set of individual rights (and collective... In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist is a person or other entity that is the embodiment of evil and utterly opposed to truth. ...

In speaking of "the Church and the Revolution" it is important to keep in mind that neither the Church nor the Revolution were monolithic. There were class interests and differences of opinion inside the Church as well as out, with many of the lower clergy -- and a few bishops, such as Talleyrand -- among the key supporters of the early phases of the revolution. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which turned Church lands into state property and the clergy into employees of the state, created a bitter division within the church between those "jurors" who took the required oath of allegiance to the state and the "non-jurors" who refused to do so. A majority of parish priests, but only four bishops, took the oath. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (February 2, 1754 - May 17, 1838) was a French diplomat. ... The law of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (Fr. ...

As a large-scale landowner tied closely to the doomed ancien regime, led by people from the aristocracy, and philosophically opposed to many of the fundamental principles of the revolution, the Church, like the absolute monarchy and the feudal nobility, was a target of the revolution even in the early phases, when leading revolutionaries such as Lafayette were still well-disposed toward King Louis XVI as an individual. Instead of being able to influence the new political elite and so shape the public agenda, the Church found itself sidelined at best, detested at worst. As the revolution became more radical, the new state and its leaders set up its own rival deities and religion, a cult of reason (and, later, a deistic cult of the Supreme Being, closing many Catholic churches, transforming cathedrals into "temples of reason", disbanding monasteries and often destroying their buildings (as at Cluny), and seizing their lands. In this process many hundreds of Catholic priests were killed, further polarising revolutionaries and the Church. The revolutionary leadership went so far as to devise a metric calendar (see French Revolutionary Calendar) to displace the Christian months and the seven-day week with its sabbath. Catholic reaction, in anti-revolutionary risings such as the revolt in the Vendée were often bloodily suppressed. Ancien R gime means Old Regime or Old Order in French; in English, the term refers primarily to the social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties, and secondarily to any regime which shares the formers defining features: a feudal system under the control... The Ancient Greek term Aristocracy meant a system of government with rule by the best. This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. ... Lafayette or La Fayette is the name of several places in the United States of America, generally named for the French hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette (sometimes referred to as the Marquis de la Fayette), as are most places named Fayette, or Fayetteville: La Fayette, Alabama... Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793), was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. ... Historical and modern Deism are defined by the view that reason should be the basis of belief rather than revelation or tradition. ... The Cult of the Supreme Being was a religion based on deism created by Maximilien Robespierre, intended to become the state religion after the French Revolution. ... Cluny nowadays The town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région of France, near Mâcon. ... The International System of Units (abbreviated SI from the French phrase, Système International dUnités) is the most widely used system of units. ... A calendar is a system for naming periods of time, typically days. ... The French Revolutionary Calendar or French Republican Calendar is a calendar proposed during the French Revolution, and in use by the French government for 13 years from 1793. ... In both Judaism and Christianity, the Sabbath (Hebrew Shabbat) is a religious day of rest that occurs on the seventh day of the week. ... During the French Revolution, the 1793- 1796 uprising in the Vendée, variously known as the Uprising, Insurrection, Revolt, or Wars in the Vendée, was the largest internal counter-revolution to the new Republic. ...

France after the Revolution

When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799, he began the process of coming back to terms with the Catholic Church. While Louis XVI's brother Louis XVIII and some of the old establishment regained power following the Napoleonic era by accepting some of the principles of the revolution, the Church continued to strongly hold the conviction of the error of the revolution and its "attack on God". The Church found itself more at home under the 1824-1830 monarchy of the Louis's youngest brother Charles X. His overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830 marked the end of any hope of a return to the ancien regime certainties of the alliance of throne and altar. Bonaparte as general Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution and was the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from November 11, 1799 to May 18, 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français... Louis XVIII (November 17, 1755 - September 16, 1824) was King of France from 1814 (although he declared that he considered his reign to have begun in 1795) until his death in 1824. ... Charles X, King of France and of Navarre (October 9, 1757 – November 6, 1836) was born at the Palace of Versailles. ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, was a revolt by the middle class against Bourbon King Charles X which forced him out of office and replaced him with the Orleanist King Louis-Philippe. ... 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Throughout the nineteenth century, the Church found itself increasingly marginalised. Under the fundamentally bourgeois July Monarchy, Louis Phillippe reigned not as a 'throne-and-altar' King of France but as a popular monarch, the implicitly citizen-oriented King of the French, while the Church remained associated with Henry V, the Legitimist pretender. It was only under Pope Leo XIII (r: 1878-1903) that the Church leadership tried to move away from its right-wing, legitimist, royalist associations, when he ordered the deeply unhappy French Church to accept the Third French Republic (1875-1940). However, his liberalising initiative was undone by Pope Pius X (r: 1903-1914), a conservative traditionalist who had more sympathy with the French royalists than with the bourgeois Third Republic. An already bubbling dispute led by way of Pius's interventions to a full and irrevocable break between the French state and the Church, with those Church properties that had been restored by the regime of Louis XVIII once again seized by the state and religious orders once again banned. Catholicism never regained major power or influence from that point. Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... The July Monarchy was established in France with the reign of Louis Philippe of France. ... Louis-Philippe of France (October 6, 1773–August 26, 1850), served as the Orleanist king of the French from 1830 to 1848. ... Popular Monarchy is a system of monarchical governance which came into occasional usage in the nineteenth century1 in which the monarchs title is linked with the people, rather than the state. ... Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonne, Comte de Chambord (September 29, 1820 - August 24, 1883) was the grandson of King Charles X of France, the posthumous son of Charless younger son Charles, Duc de Berry, who had been assassinated several months before Henris birth. ... Legitimists are those Royalists in France who believe that the King of France and Navarre must be chosen according to the simple application of the Salic Law. ... Pope Leo XIII, born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Pecci (March 2, 1810–July 20, 1903), was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from February 20, 1878 until his death. ... The French Third Republic, (in French, Troisième Republique, sometimes written as IIIème Republique) (1870/75-1940/46), was the governing body of France between the Second French Empire and the Fourth Republic. ... Pope Saint Pius X, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto (2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914), was Pope from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII. He was the first pope since the Counter-Reformation Pope St. ...

Pius IX and the 'errors of the world'

The nineteenth century was dominated by attitudes shaped by the French Revolution and its aftermath. The concept of revolution as a means of achieving dramatic change had grown in popularity, as had the belief that the citizenry had rights. These ideas became of particular importance in the Italian peninsula, which was divided up between a number of states, notably the Kingdom of Piedmont to the north, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the south, and in between the Patrimony of St. Peter, more commonly known as the Papal States, a collection of states controlled by the Pope for many centuries. Piedmont is a region of northwestern Italy. ... The Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the new name that the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV of Naples gave to his domain (including Southern Italy and Sicily) after the end of the Napoleonic Era and the full restoration of his power in 1816. ... The Papal States (Gli Stati della Chiesa or Stati Pontificii, States of the Church) is one of the historical states of Italy before its unity under the crown of Savoy and comprised those territories over which the Pope was the ruler in a civil as well as a spiritual sense...

Growing Italian nationalistic demands for the creation of an all-Italy state came to a head in the 1840s. In 1846 the liberal-leaning Giovanni Maria Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti became Pope Pius IX. Pius's liberal policies, in contrast with the autocracy of his predecessors, led to growing belief that under him the Papal States would not stand in the way of Italian unification. However the 1848 outbreak of revolution in Italy (alongside France, where King Louis Philippe lost his throne, in Austria and even unsuccessfully in tame versions in the United Kingdom and Ireland, shocked Pius, who himself, when unwilling to support Italian nationalism, was forced to flee into exile, producing a shortlived Roman Republic. Pius on his return, abandoned the liberalism that had been his trademark, returned to the more traditional conservativism of his immediate predecessors and spent the rest of his papacy condemning nationalism, populism and democracy, most dramatically his 1864 papal encyclical Quanta Cura and its attached Syllabus of Errors. Under Pius IX, the Church set itself against all the new theories of popular sovereignty and rights of citizens, which, having been fringe ideas on the left at the time of the French Revolution of 1789, had now gained widespread acceptance among moderate opinion. Pius's continuing defence of the Divine Right of Kings and his insistence on condemning policies and perspectives championed by such leaders as Benjamin Disraeli and William E. Gladstone (United Kingdom), Daniel O'Connell and Issac Butt (Ireland), and Abraham Lincoln, earned for him and the Papal States widespread international criticism. Pius's world still looked back on the pre-revolutionary theory of the alliance of throne and altar, as the embodiment of God's design for government, with God's king and God's church together governing as God's will. 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Blessed Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti (May 13, 1792 – February 7, 1878), was pope for a record pontificate of over 31 years, from June 16, 1846 until his death. ... 1848 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... In the ancient Church, an encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area. ... Quanta Cura was a Papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1864, which condemned religious freedom and freedom of speech. ... The Syllabus of Errors (Latin: Syllabus Errorum) was a document issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864 as an appendix to his encyclical Quanta Cura. ... Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region, group of people, or oneself. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (December 21, 1804 - April 24, British Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and author. ... William Ewart Gladstone (December 29, 1809 - May 19, 1898) was a British Liberal politician and Prime Minister (1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886 and 1892-1894). ... Daniel OConnell Daniel OConnell (August 6, 1776 – May 15, 1847), known as The Liberator or The Emancipator, was Irelands predominant politician in the first half of the nineteenth century. ... Issac Butt (September 6, 1813 - May 5, 1879) was the founder and first leader of the Home Rule League, subsequently known as the Irish Parliamentary Party. ... Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was the 16th (1861–1865) President of the United States, and the first president from the Republican Party. ...

Ironically, given that many of the ideas which so appalled Pope Pius IX came from France via the revolutions of 1789 and after, Pius's control of the Papal States rested on France, whose army under Emperor Napoleon III defended the Papal States from attack. But the Franco-Prussian War forced Napoleon III to take back his soldiers in his own ultimately unsuccessful attempt to defend his imperial throne. Without the French Emperor's protection, the Papal States and Rome fell to invading Piedmontese troops. For Pius the final evidence of the sinfulness of the modern world was the seizure by secular troops of the Vicar of Christ's own lands. The First Vatican Council, which had been meeting and which had only just proclaimed the pope infallible in matters of faith and morals, was itself a victim of the invasion and never reassembled. Though infallibility was not a political concept, some of Pius's critics thought its proclamation was meant to bolster his moral authority as the Vicar of Christ, perhaps discouraging Italian nationalists from attacking the Pope's own Rome. In reality it was merely a doctrinal issue, not a political one. Pope Pius, stripped of his temporal power retreated into the Vatican Palace and declared himself the "prisoner in the Vatican", while the King of Piedmont, now proclaimed King of Italy, was installed in the former papal residence, the Quirinal Palace. Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808, Paris - January 9, 1873, Chislehurst, Kent, England) was a President of France, and later, Emperor of the French. ... The Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) was fought between France and Prussia (backed by the North German Confederation) allied with the south German states of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg. ... The First Vatican Council was summoned by Pope Pius IX by the bull Aeterni Patris of June 29, 1868. ... In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is the dogma that the Pope, when he solemnly defines a matter of faith and morals ex cathedra (that is, officially and as pastor of the universal Church), is correct, and thus does not have the possibility of error. ... The Quirinal Palace (known in Italian as the Quirinale) is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. ...

Pius, initially a liberal, by the end of his reign saw the world in apocalyptic terms; the attack on the symbols of God (thrones, the papacy, the Church), the triumph of godless ideas (rights of citizens, freedom of those whom he believed were in error to worship and have their "wrong" beliefs accepted), etc. Pius by the end was a believer in the world of throne and altar that had been undermined through the French Revolution. In his view, God's will for government, his anointed kings were being swept away, as power moved to the unanointed masses. In 1878 Pius died, broken by a world he could not understand and which he believed had left god to one side for the world of he 'mob'. It was an analysis increasingly abandoned by most leaders in Europe and the Americas.

Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII, seeing that popular democracy seemed to be on the ascendant, tried a new and somewhat more sophisticated approach to political questions than his predecessor Pius IX. Pope Leo XIII, born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Pecci (March 2, 1810–July 20, 1903), was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from February 20, 1878 until his death. ...

On May 15, 1891, Leo XIII issued an encyclical on political issues known as Rerum Novarum (Latin: "About New Things"). This addressed politics as it had been transformed by the Industrial Revolution and other changes in society that had occurred during the nineteenth century. The document criticised capitalism, complaining of the exploitation of the masses in industry. However, it also sharply criticized the socialist's concept of class struggle, and their proposed solution to eliminate private property. It called for strong governments to undertake a mission to protect their people from exploitation, and asked Roman Catholics to apply principles of social justice in their own lives. May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Roman Catholic Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Industrial Revolution is the name given to the massive social, economic and technological change in 18th century and 19th century Great Britain. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Capitalism has been defined in various ways (see definitions of capitalism). ... For information on mainstream political parties using the term Socialist, see Social democracy and Democratic socialism, For the governments of the USSR, the PRC, and others, see: Communist state, Other variants of Socialism include Marxism, Communism, and Libertarian Socialism. ... Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ...

This document was rightly seen as a profound change in the thinking of the Holy See about political matters. It drew on the economic thought of St Thomas Aquinas, whose "just price" theory taught that prices in a marketplace ought not to be allowed to fluctuate on account of temporary shortages or gluts. Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [oeko], house, and νέμω [nemo], distribute) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources. ... St Thomas Aquinas. ...

Seeking to find some principle to replace the threatening Marxist doctrine of class struggle, Rerum Novarum urged social solidarity between the upper and lower classes, and endorsed nationalism as a way of preserving traditional morality, customs, and folkways. In doing so, Rerum Novarum proposed a kind of corporatism, the organisation of political societies along industrial lines that resembled mediaeval guilds. Under corporatism, your place in society would be determined by the ethnic, work, and social groups you were born into or joined. A one-person, one-vote democracy was rejected in favour of representation by interest groups. A strong government was required to serve as the arbiter among competing factions. Forty years later, the corporatist tendencies of Rerum Novarum were underscored by Pope Pius XI's May 25, 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno ("In the Fortieth Year"), which restated the hostility of Rerum Novarum to both unbridled competition and class struggle. Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Class struggle is class conflict looked at from a communist (that is, Marxist or anarchist) perspective. ... Nationalism is an ethno-political ideology that sustains the concept of a nation-identity for an exclusive group of people. ... Morality is a system of principles and judgments based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which humans determine whether given actions are right or wrong. ... For an article on the meaning of this term in the field of law, see custom_(law). ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The term corporatism has different meanings in different contexts. ... A guild is an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ... His Holiness Pope Pius XI, born Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Quadragesimo Anno is an encyclical by Pope Pius XI, issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Rerum Novarum (thus the name, Latin for the fortieth year). Written as a response to the Great Depression, it calls for the establishment of a social order based on the principle of subsidiarity. ...

Pius X - back to 'Throne and Altar'

Pope Pius X clashed with the anti-clericalism of France's Third Republic which abolished religious orders and introduced a complete separation of church and state. Pope Saint Pius X, born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto (2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914), was Pope from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII. He was the first pope since the Counter-Reformation Pope St. ... Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious (generally Catholic) institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, and the encroachment of religion in the everyday life of the citizen. ... The French Third Republic, (in French, Troisième Republique, sometimes written as IIIème Republique) ( 1870/ 75- 1940/ 46), was the governing body of France between the Second French Empire and the Fourth Republic. ... The separation of church and state is a concept in law whereby the structures of state or national government are kept separate from those of religious institutions. ...

The Church and the Twentieth Century

Pius XI and the Roman Question

Pius XI - autocratic. Determination to solve the Roman Question. Lateran Treaty The Lateran Treaties of February 11, 1929 provided for the mutual recognition of the then Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican City. ...

Fascism

Clerics photographed with leaders of the wartime Croatian Nazi puppet state

Some have contended that the Roman Catholic Church tainted itself by an uncritical and even friendly relationship with Fascism and Nazism. Since the end of World War II, these accusations have been hurled at the Roman Church in various degrees of plausibility and quality, by works ranging from Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy to John Cornwell's book Hitler's Pope. Pope Pius XII is usually cast as the villain in this revisionist view of history, which less partisan research has done much to discredit. pavelic and stepinac, NDH File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... pavelic and stepinac, NDH File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the right-wing authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... The Nazi Party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Rolf Hochhuth (born April 1, 1931 in Eschwege/Werra) is a German author. ... The Venerable Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958 in Rome, Italy), served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ...

Spain

• In Spain, Francisco Franco's Falange enjoyed the support of many in the Roman Catholic Church, following the anti-clerical attacks on the church and the killing of thousands of priests by communist and anarchist militias during the collapse of the Second Spanish Republic.

Association with monarchists, Carlism, Basque nationalism. Opus Dei. Francisco Franco Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade (December 4, 1892 - November 20, 1975), abbreviated Francisco Franco Bahamonde and sometimes known as Generalísimo Francisco Franco, was dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. ... Falange was a totalitarian clerical fascist political organization founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933 in opposition to the Second Spanish Republic. ... Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious (generally Catholic) institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, and the encroachment of religion in the everyday life of the citizen. ... Flag of the Second Spanish Republic The Second Spanish Republic (1931 – 1939) was the second period in Spanish history in which the election of both the positions of Head of State and Head of government were in the hands of the people. ... Carlism was a conservative political movement in Spain, purporting to establish an alternative branch of the Bourbons in the Spanish throne. ... The Gernika oak is a symbol of Basque freedoms. ... Founder of Opus Dei: Saint Josemaría Escrivá The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, commonly known as Opus Dei (Latin The Work of God), is a Roman Catholic organization founded on October 2, 1928, by Josemaría Escrivá, a Spanish priest who was later canonized by Pope John Paul...

Italy

In 1924, Pope Pius XI forbade the Catholic Popular Party to work with the Socialist Party against Mussolini. He later dissolved the party. His Holiness Pope Pius XI, born Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ... Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ...

Fear of communism, and a certain disdain for liberal democracy, made explicit in such Papal documents as Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors, may have contributed to the perception that the Church supported fascism. By the Lateran Treaties, Mussolini granted Pope Pius XI the crown of Vatican City as a nation to rule, made Roman Catholicism the state church of Italy, and paid the Pope compensation for the loss of the Papal States. This gave rise to the impression that Mussolini had paid off the Pope not to oppose his coup. The relationship to Mussolini's government deteriorated drastically in the following years. As a consequence in 1931 Pius issued the encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno [1]  (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_29061931_non-abbiamo-bisogno_en.html). In 1938 Pope Pius XI spoke with "bitter sadness" of Italy's anti-Semitic laws, the harrying of Italian Catholic Action groups and the reception Mussolini gave Adolf Hitler in the same year. This article is about communism as a form of society built around a gift economy, as an ideology that advocates that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... In politics, the term liberal refers to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism —an ideology espousing liberty. ... Quanta Cura was a Papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1864, which condemned religious freedom and freedom of speech. ... The Syllabus of Errors (Latin: Syllabus Errorum) was a document issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864 as an appendix to his encyclical Quanta Cura. ... The Lateran Treaties of February 11, 1929 provided for the mutual recognition of the then-Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican City. ... His Holiness Pope Pius XI, born Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ... See also civil religion. ... The Papal States (Gli Stati della Chiesa or Stati Pontificii, States of the Church) is one of the historical states of Italy before its unity under the crown of Savoy and comprised those territories over which the Pope was the ruler in a civil as well as a spiritual sense... A coup détat (pronounced kū dā ta), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889–April 30, 1945) was the Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Imperial chancellor) of Germany from 1933 to his death. ...

Germany

In 1930 Pope Pius XI persuaded the Catholic Centre Party to reject cooperation with the Social Democratic Party against the Nazis. The Vatican signed a Concordat with Hitler in 1933 and had the Centre Party support the Enabling Act that gave Hitler dictatorial powers. His Holiness Pope Pius XI, born Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ... The factual accuracy of this article is Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. ... The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD – Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) is the second oldest political party of Germany still in existence and also one of the oldest and largest in the world, celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2003. ... A concordat is an agreement between the pope and a government or sovereign on religious matters. ... Note: For the Nazi law, see Enabling Act. ...

Hitler said, "The concordat gave Germany an opportunity and created a sense of trust that was particularly significant in the developing struggle against international Jewry," and that it "imposed a moral duty on Catholics to obey the Nazi rulers." After signing the Concordat Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli dismissed in a two page article in L'Osservatore Romano on 26 July and 27 July Hitler's assertion that the concordat in any way represented or implied approval for national socialism, much less moral approval of it. He argued that its true purpose had been "not only the official recognition (by the Reich) of the legislation of the Church (its Code of Canon Law), but the adoption of many provisions of this legislation and the protection of all Church legislation." The Cardinal Secretary of State presides over the Secretariat of State, which is the most important dicastery of the Roman Curia. ... The Venerable Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958 in Rome, Italy), served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ...

In many parts of the country Catholics opposed Hitler, however in largely Catholic Bavaria the Catholic BVP favoured the Nazis. However many clergy opposed the Nazis and were arrested. In 1937 Pius XI condemned in one of his last encyclical - Mit Brennender Sorge [2]  (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge_en.html)- the Nazi ideology of racism. 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mit brennender Sorge (German for With deep anxiety) is an encyclical of pope Pius XI, published on March 10, 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, 14 March), about the condition of the Catholic Church of Germany under Hitlers Government. ...

Pius XI's posthumous encyclical on nazism

Pius XII - silence, diplomacy. Jewish escape networks. Allegations. Scholars' review of archives.

France

Action Française (AF), campaigned for the return of the monarchy and for aggressive action against Jews as well as a corporatist system. It was supported by a strong section of the clerical hiearchy, eleven out of seventeen cardinals and bishops. The term corporatism has different meanings in different contexts. ...

Slovakia

During World War II, Jozef Tiso, a Roman Catholic monsigneur, became the Nazi quisling in Slovakia. Tiso was head of state and the security forces, as well as the leader of the paramilitary Hlinka Guard, which wore the Catholic Episcopal cross on its armbands. The Catholic clergy was represented at all levels of the regime and its corporatist were based on papal encyclicals. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Adolf Hitler and Tiso meet in 1942 Monsignor Jozef Tiso (October 13, 1887–April 18, 1947) was a Roman Catholic priest who became a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament, a member of the Czechoslovak government, and finally the President of the Nazi-controlled puppet government of Slovakia. ... Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (July 18, 1887 - October 24, 1945) was a Norwegian fascist politician and officer. ... Hlinka Flag Hlinka Guard (in Slovak Hlinkova garda) was the militia maintained by the Slovak Peoples Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka. ...

Croatia

Mike Budak, the Minister of Religion of Independent State of Croatia, said on July 22, 1941: The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) was a Nazi/Fascist puppet state in World War II. It was set up in April 1941 on parts of the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after its occupation. ...

"The Ustashi movement is based on the Catholic Religion. For the minorities, Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, we have three million bullets. A part of these minorities has already been eliminated and many are waiting to be killed. Some will be sent to Serbia and the rest will be forced to change their religion to Catholicism. Our new Croatia will therefore be free of all heretics, becoming purely Catholic for the future years." The Ustaše (often spelled Ustashe in English; singular Ustaša or Ustasha) was a Croatian right-wing organisation put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers in 1941. ...

Controversy surrounds the depths of the involvement of the Roman Catholic clergy with the Ustaše, a Croatian Fascist movement in the former Yugoslavia. According to Branko Bokun, a Roman Catholic priest made the following remarks on June 13, 1941: The Ustaše (often spelled Ustashe in English; singular Ustaša or Ustasha) was a Croatian far-right organisation put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers in 1941. ...

"Brethren, up to now we have worked for the Holy Roman Apostolic Church with the cross and the missal. Now the moment has come to work with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. The more Serbs and Jews you succeed in eliminating, the more you will be raised in esteem in the heart of the Roman Catholic Church"

The issue of clerical fascism in wartime Croatia is further discussed in the article Involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustasa regime. Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition. ... During World War II a number of Croatian Catholic priests, and some of the then bishops in the territory, cooperated with the Ustaša regime, who ran a Nazi puppet state that pursued a genocidal policy against the Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews and Roma. ...

Elsewhere in Europe

The association of Roman Catholicism, sometimes in the form of the hierarchial church, sometimes in the form of lay catholic organisations acting independently of the hierarchy produced links to dictatorial governments in various states. Dictator was the title of a magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the state in times of emergency. ...

• The Roman Catholic Church supported the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal;

• In Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss turned a Roman Catholic political party into the single party of a one-party state. In rural Austria the Catholic Christian Social Party collaborated with the Heimwehr militia and helped bring Dollfuss to power in 1932. In June 1934, he produced his authoritarian constitution which stated "We shall establish a state on the basis of a Christian weltanschaung". The Pope described Dolfuss as a "Christian, giant-hearted man ... who rules Austria so well, so resolutely and in such a Christian manner. His actions are witness to Catholic visions and convictions. The Austrian people, Our beloved Austria, now has the government it deserves".

• In Poland, Józef Pilsudski founded a military style government that incorporated Catholic corporatism into its ideology. However in general the Catholic church was a focal point of opposition to the Communist regime. Many Catholic priests were arrested or disappeared for opposing the Polish communist regime. Pope John Paul II encouraged opposition to the Communist regime in such a way that it would not draw retaliation, becoming (ina quote from CNN) "a resilient enemy of Communism and champion of human rights, a powerful preacher and sophisticated intellectual able to defeat Marxists in their own line of dialogue."

• The Belgian Fascist movement Rexism arose out of a conservative Catholic movement and its publications. The full names of the Rexists was Christus Rex or "Christ the King"

See also: clerical fascism Antonio Salazar on July 22, 1946 issue of Time Magazine António de Oliveira Salazar ( April 28, 1889— July 27, 1970) was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968, noted for the dictatorial nature of his government. ... Engelbert Dollfuss Engelbert Dollfuss (German: Dollfuß) (October 4, 1892 - July 25, 1934) was an Austrian politician and dictator. ... A single-party state or one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system and form of government where only a single political party dominates the government and no opposition parties are allowed. ... The Christian Social Party was an Austrian political party from 1893 to 1933 and a predecessor of the contemporary Austrian Peoples Party. ... The Heimwehr (German Home Guard) were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary grouping, operating within Austria during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germanys Freikorp. ... Term of Office from November 14, 1918 until December 9, 1922 Profession Statesman and military commander Political Party none, see Sanacja for details First Lady Maria Piłsudska Date of Birth December 5, 1867 Place of Birth Zułów, in todays Lithuania Date of Death May 12, 1935 Place of Death... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches. ... His Holiness Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef Wojtyła [1] (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City for almost 27 years, from 16 October 1978 until his death. ... Leon Degrelle Rexism was a fascist political movement in the first half of the twentieth century in Belgium. ... Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition. ...

The Second Vatican Council

endorsement of democracy, freedom of assembly, religion, concept of 'people of God', Dignitatis Humanae The Declaration on Religious Freedom of the Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae is subtitled On the Right of the Person and of Communities to Social and Civil Freedom in Matters Religious. ...

Liberation Theology

Association between marxism and catholicism. Allegations of Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Lorschider. FSLN Order: 40th President Vice President: George H.W. Bush Term of office: January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: February 6, 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: June 5, 2004 Place of death: Bel-Air... His Holiness Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef Wojtyła [1] (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City for almost 27 years, from 16 October 1978 until his death. ... Sandinista! is also the name of a popular music album by The Clash. ...

The Church and Central and South America

In many cases in South America the Cathloic church has been a centre of resistance to oppresive regimes. See for example Oscar Romero

Jean Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born July 15, 1953) is a Haitian politician and former priest who was President of Haiti in 1991, from 1994 to 1996, and again from 2001 to 2004. ...

The church establishment and regimes

allegations of official church support for Augusto Pinochet - Church role in coup against Allende. General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte[1] (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...

Argentina. Nuncios' role.

The radical church and regimes

Local church opposition to Marcos, Pinochet, Smith, Mugabe, Apartheid South Africa, the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

International Law

In 2003, Pope John Paul II also became a prominent critic of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. He sent his "Peace Minister", Pío Cardinal Laghi, to talk with US President George W. Bush to express opposition to the war. John Paul II said that it was up to the United Nations to solve the international conflict through diplomacy and that a unilateral aggression is a crime against peace and a violation of international law. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 2003 invasion of Iraq, also called simply the Iraq War or Operation: Iraqi Freedom, is a war that began March 20, 2003, fought between a group of troops consisting primarily of American and British, but also Polish, Australian and several other nations forces, and Iraq. ... Pío Cardinal Laghi (born May 21, 1922) is a Roman Catholic Cardinal who has served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and in the Roman Curia. ... Order: 43rd President Vice President: Dick Cheney Term of office: January 20, 2001 – Present Preceded by: Bill Clinton Succeeded by: Incumbent Date of birth: July 6, 1946 Place of birth: New Haven, Connecticut First Lady: Laura Welch Bush Political party: Republican George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the... The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ... International law deals with the relationships between states, or between persons or entities in different states. ...

Communism

The Catholic Church has continually opposed the anti-clerical, atheist, and totalitarian aspects of communism. Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious (generally Catholic) institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, and the encroachment of religion in the everyday life of the citizen. ... Refer to Atheist (band) for information about the American band. ...

Pope John Paul II began his papacy when the Soviets controlled his homeland Poland, as well as the rest of the Eastern Europe. A harsh critic of communism, he offered support to those fighting for change, like the Polish Solidarity movement. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev once said the collapse of the Iron Curtain would have been impossible without John Paul II [3] (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/03/pope.gorbachev/index.html). This view is shared by many people of the post-Soviet states, who view him, as one of the main people responsible for bringing an end to the communist system in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. In later years, Pope has also criticised some of the more extreme versions of corporate capitalism. Soviet redirects here. ... Eastern Europe is, by convention, that part of Europe from the Ural and Caucasus mountains in the East to an arbitrarily chosen boundary in the West. ... This article is about communism as a form of society built around a gift economy, as an ideology that advocates that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... Solidarity (Polish Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev)  listen (Russian: ; pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHYOHV) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... In the summer of 1989, the foreign ministers of Austria and Hungary, Alois Mock and Gyula Horn, ceremoniously cut through the border defences separating their countries. ... The Post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the independent nations which split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its breakup in 1991. ... The term corporatism has different meanings in different contexts. ...

The Eastern Bloc

The Catholic churches of Communist China

Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (designated variously as CPA, CPCA, or CCPA) is the recognized official Catholic Church established by the Communist government of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Text being edited For strategic reasons, it was desirable for the (essentially agnostic) fascist movements of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany to avoid en masse alienation of Catholics. Some critics have alleged that Pope Pius XII was complicit with the rise of fascism. While such claims are questionable (particularly with regards to Nazism?), the Catholic leadership certainly chose quiet, "neutral" resistance over an explicit ideological struggle with fascism. Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the right-wing authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ... Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889–April 30, 1945) was the Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Imperial chancellor) of Germany from 1933 to his death. ... The Venerable Pope Pius XII, born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958 in Rome, Italy), served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ... The Nazi Party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... A neutral country takes no side in a war between other parties, and in return hopes to avoid being attacked by either of them. ...

Fear of communism, and a certain disdain for liberal democracy, made explicit in such Papal documents as Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors, may have contributed to this perception. By the Lateran Treaties, Mussolini granted Pope Pius XI the crown of Vatican City as a nation to rule, made Roman Catholicism the state church of Italy, and paid the Pope compensation for the loss of the Papal States. This gave rise to the impression that Mussolini had paid off the Pope not to oppose his coup. This article is about communism as a form of society built around a gift economy, as an ideology that advocates that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... In politics, the term liberal refers to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism —an ideology espousing liberty. ... Quanta Cura was a Papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1864, which condemned religious freedom and freedom of speech. ... The Syllabus of Errors (Latin: Syllabus Errorum) was a document issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864 as an appendix to his encyclical Quanta Cura. ... The Lateran Treaties of February 11, 1929 provided for the mutual recognition of the then-Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican City. ... His Holiness Pope Pius XI, born Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 - February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope and sovereign of Vatican City from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ... See also civil religion. ... The Papal States (Gli Stati della Chiesa or Stati Pontificii, States of the Church) is one of the historical states of Italy before its unity under the crown of Savoy and comprised those territories over which the Pope was the ruler in a civil as well as a spiritual sense... A coup détat (pronounced kū dā ta), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ...