Roman Catholicism

Critical Historical Events

In one sense, Roman Catholicism exists only in distinction to Orthodox and Protestant branches of Christianity, and the earlier history of Christi anity that is common to all three branches is a separate historical narrative. In another way of viewing the history of Roman Catholicism, it can be merged with the history of Christianity itself, thereby spanning close to two millennia. It is understandably, therefore, a complex and multi-layered narrative encompassing wide-ranging theological debates, political events, intra-institutional reforms, and diverse philosophers (e.g., Thomas Aquinas), prophetic thinkers (e.g., Jacques Maritain), and charismatic figures (e.g., Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Dorothy Day). In terms of understanding the institutional evolution of Roman Catholicism in the modern era, a few transformative events stand out. One salient event is the Council of Trent (1545–1553), convened in response to the emergence of Protestantism following the Reformation spearheaded by the German theologian Martin Luther (1511) as a protest against certain aspects of Catholic theology (e.g., the mediating authority of the pope, bishops, and priests between the individual believer and God) and specific institutional practices (e.g., the granting of indulgences or a remission of sins in exchange for money from wealthy families). The Council condemned Protestantism and affirmed several tenets of Catholic teaching (e.g., the centrality of the sacraments, Eucharistic transubstantiation, the importance of the saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the sacred authority of priestly ordination and of the Church hierarchy, the importance of faith and good works for redemption) that sought to sharply differentiate Catholicism from Protestantism.

The Council of Trent's legacy was not only significant in establishing a well-demarcated, authoritative outline of Catholicism and what specific beliefs and practices Church membership entailed, it also contributed to consolidating the religious-geographical-political divide set in motion in Europe following the Reformation, whose contours intertwined the subsequent political and militaristic conflicts that dominated Europe into the early decades of the 20th century. Amid this drawn-out turmoil, Catholicism became associated with a regressive stance, whereas Protestantism was seen as accelerating the march of modernity economically (e.g., industrialization and the growth of capitalism), politically (e.g., the consolidation of the authority of the nation-state), and culturally (e.g., the emphasis on the values of individualism, pluralism, and scientific reasoning). Amid the transformative changes of the late 19th century, the Church's official assertion of its longheld presumption of papal infallibility (at the First Vatican Council, 1869–1870) and its condemnation of Americanism (by Pope Leo XIII, 1899) and modernism (by Pope Pius IX, 1907) conjointly crystallized what was seen as its failure to adapt to modernity and solidified the perception of it as a tradition-bound, immutable institution whose relevance belonged to an earlier, pre-Enlightenment and antidemocratic era.

...