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Pope Pius IX and Religious Freedom
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
The liberal outcry occasioned by the publication of the Syllabus of Errors in 1864 concerned in large part the apparent condemnation by Pius IX of religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Lord John Russell quoted practice in Mexico to show that the Pope meant that Roman Catholicism should be maintained to the exclusion of every other form of worship, while the Saturday Review argued that Pius had defended the duty of the Church and the State to persecute those who worked against Roman Catholicism. The main problem for these and other critics was constituted by articles 24, 77 and 79 of the Syllabus: how could these be interpreted except as condemning religious toleration and liberty of speech? A few years later, Gladstone, in attacking the Vatican decrees on the Church, argued that the Syllabus had not only denied the principle of toleration but had also positively favoured persecution, and referred to article 78.
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References
1 Denziger, H., Bannwart, C., et al, Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Moram (30 ed Freiburg 1955)Google Scholar; reference is to DB and section number. The Syllabus is DB 1701–80. [L.] Brigué, [DTC, vol 14, cols 2877–2923] gives history, text and commentary.
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9 McElrath p 97.
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18 Ibid pp 691–2.
19 Ibid 1 pp 12–24. For an excellent analysis of this approach in Gregory XVI’s writings, see P. Hegy, L’Autorité dans La Catholicisme Contemporaine du Syllabus à Vatican II (Paris 1975) pp 45–8.
20 Acta 1 pp 201–2, December 1849.
21 [A.] Mercati, [Raccolta di Concordati su Materie Ecclesiastiche Tra La Santa Sede e Le Autorità Civili] 2 vols (Vatican 1919 enlarged ed 1954) for full texts and some relevant documents.
22 For example, speech on New Granada, September 1852, Acta 1 pp 383–6.
23 Acta 2 p 544 (Mexico); 6 pp 253–73, general letter of November 1873, Etsi multa luctuosa. For a detailed discussion, M. Nedoncelle, R. Aubert, et al., L’Ecclésiologie au XIXe Siècle (Paris 1960).
24 Mercati 1 pp 751–61.
25 Ibid pp 853–62.
26 Ibid p 822.
27 Aubert p 75, says this is also true of the concordat with Tuscany of 1855; see Mercati 1 pp 767–9.
28 Acta 2 pp 512–5.
29 Mercati 1 pp 800–9, concordat with Costa Rica, 1852.
30 Ibid pp 770–96.
31 Ibid p 801, Costa Rica 1852; pp 949–50, Nicaragua 1861; p 961, San Salvador 1862.
32 Ibid.
33 Acta 1 pp 295 (Spain), 450 (Costa Rica).
34 [G.] Martina, [Pio IX, 1846–1850 (Rome 1974)] p 121; see also his Pio IX, Chiesa e Mondo Moderna (Rome 1976).
35 Acta 1 pp 441–2.
36 Ibid 7 pp 182–6 (March 1876).
37 Ibid 2 pp 538–49 (December 1856).
38 Ibid 4 pp 407–9 (June 1868).
39 Aubert p 246, for Belgium.
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44 Ibid pp 242–3 for both quotations.
45 Aubert pp 251–4.
46 Ward p 243.
47 Finaly pp 187–8.
48 Acta 2 pp 538–49, to Mexican bishops, December 1856; 7 p 185, to Spanish bishops, March 1876. Also, Martina p 477, to President of New Granada, August 1847.
49 Gladstone pp liv, 21–1, 75–8, 109, 128; McElrath pp 283, 300–4.
50 Acta 1 p 23, ‘Qui Pluribus’, November 1846.
51 Ibid p 73, ‘Ubi Primum’, December 1847.
52 Ibid 3 pp 451–4, June 1862.
53 Martina pp 121–2.
54 Quoted in Gladstone p 146, from Discorsi del Summo Pontefice Pio IX, 2 vols, ed P. de Franciscis (Rome 1872/3) which he reviewed for BQR 1875.
55 Acta 3 p 611.