![Gregory XVI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Gregory_XVI.jpg)
(Latin: "To wonder at you"; subtitled "On
Liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
and Religious
Indifferentism
Indifferentism is the belief held by some that no one religion or philosophy is superior to another.
Religious indifferentism is to be distinguished from political indifferentism. Political indifferentism relates to the policy of a State that tre ...
"), sometimes referred to as , is the first
encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally from ...
of
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...
and was issued in August 1832. Addressed "To All Patriarchs,
Primates
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World", it is general in scope.
Background
Felicité Robert de Lamennais,
Charles Forbes René de Montalembert
Charles Forbes René de Montalembert (; 15 April 1810, in London – 13 March 1870, in Paris) was a French publicist, historian and Count of Montalembert, Deux-Sèvres, and a prominent representative of liberal Catholicism.
Family
Charles Forb ...
and
Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
Jean-Baptiste Henri-Dominique Lacordaire (12 May 1802 – 21 November 1861), often styled Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, was a French ecclesiastic, preacher, journalist, theologian and political activist. He re-established the Dominican Order in p ...
started a newspaper, ("The Future"). While the paper was a strong proponent of
Ultramontanism
Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by th ...
, supporting the authority of the papacy in opposition to
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
and
secularist
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
ideas, it also advocated an enlarged
suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
, separation of church and state, and universal
freedom of conscience
Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints.
Overview
Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by ...
, instruction,
assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
, and
the press
''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...
. They saw no conflict between Catholicism and liberal reform. The conservative French hierarchy regarded such views as dangerous nonsense, many considering an established church, a Catholic near-monopoly in education, and an anointed monarch as the bedrock of a Godly society. In November 1831, Lammennais and Montalembert traveled to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, seeking confirmation from Pope Gregory that views expressed in their newspaper were orthodox.
Although pressured by the French government and the French hierarchy, Pope Gregory XVI would have preferred not to make an official issue of the matter.
[Bernard, Cook. "Lamennais, Hugues-Felicité Robert de (1782-1854)", ''Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions'', (James Chastain, ed.), Ohio University, 2005]
/ref> After much opposition, the pair gained an audience on March 15, 1832, on condition that their political views should not be mentioned. The meeting was apparently cordial and uneventful. The leading conservative statesman Klemens von Metternich
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...
, whose Austrian troops guaranteed the stability of the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, pressed for a condemnation.[Chadwick, Owen. "Gregory XVI", ''A History of the Popes, 1830-1914'', Oxford University Press, 2003]
The Pope's advisors were convinced that if he said nothing, it would condone Lamennais's opinions. was issued the following August, criticizing Lamennais's views without mentioning him by name.[
]
Content
The encyclical voiced support for Christian freedom, upheld the ecclesiastical supremacy of the papacy and raised concerns over too-close alliances between clergy and government. It denounced those who advocated a married clergy: "We ask that you strive with all your might to justify and to defend the law of clerical celibacy as prescribed by the sacred canons, against which the arrows of the lascivious are directed from every side."Pope Gregory XVI, ''Mirari vos'', §11, Rome, August 15, 1832
/ref> He also denounced those who advocated divorce and secret societies that sought to overturn the legitimate governments of the Italian states.[
The pope attacked religious indifferentism, defined as the opinion that one religion is as good as another, which he saw as the basis for the argument for liberty of conscience. He saw it as the state's duty to curtail false, immoral doctrines, and so denounced freedom to publish indiscriminately. ]Owen Chadwick
William Owen Chadwick (20 May 1916 – 17 July 2015) was a British Anglican priest, academic, rugby international,[paederasty
Pederasty or paederasty ( or ) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and a pubescent or adolescent boy. The term ''pederasty'' is primarily used to refer to historical practices of certain cultures, particularly ancient Greece and anc ...](_blank)
, or pornography, or adultery, or murder not to be sins, cannot be what God demands of any State".
He stated, "Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?
The encyclical satisfied neither Lamennais's supporters nor his detractors.[
]
See also
*
* Singulari Nos
''Singulari Nos'' (subtitled ''On The Errors Of Lammenais'') was an encyclical issued on June 25, 1834, by Pope Gregory XVI. Essentially a follow-up to the better-known ''Mirari Vos'' of 1832, ''Singulari Nos'' focused strongly on the views of Fr ...
References
External links
''Mirari vos''
English translation from ''Papal Encyclicals Online''.
*
Mirari vos
', Latin original from ''Google Books''.
''Mirari vos''
Latin original from ''Acta Gregorii Papae XVI: Pars prima canonica'', volume I, pp 169–174.
*Page 392.
{{Authority control
Catholicism and Freemasonry
Papal encyclicals
Documents of Pope Gregory XVI
Religious pluralism