The War Upon Religion: Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in EuropeCunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
History
The War Upon Religion: Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in Europe
Cunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Catholic Church -- Europe; Catholic Church -- History; Church and state -- Catholic Church
Sixth. There shall be instituted in every diocese a council of
vigilance, to watch over books and schools. They shall make certain as
to the authenticity of the relics venerated in the churches, and see
that the truth of pious traditions are not ridiculed in the newspapers;
they shall maintain a surveillance over institutions of a social
character and the publications pertaining thereto.
Seventh. One year after the publication of this Encyclical, the Bishops
and religious superiors shall hand to the Holy See a diligent report,
detailed and complete on the matters which constitute the object of the
articles of this Encyclical; and thenceforth they shall do the same in
their triennial report to the Holy See.
Such is in brief the resume of this famous document, whose appearance
aroused the interest of the whole world. That its measures were
effective is evident from the history of Modernism in the last three
years. The incipient heresy is practically dead in the pale of the
Church itself. Without it has invaded Protestantism, giving rise to
pragmatism and all those vagaries which fill the philosophical
curriculums of many universities. The Holy Father himself has gained a
signal and complete victory.
And now a word as to the purport of the book which begins in the
following pages. It is intended primarily to demonstrate that the
struggle against the Church has ever been a struggle against the Holy
See as the head and centre of all Catholicity. The repudiation of
authority began with the Reformation. Then indeed it was merely an
outcry against the claim of the Church to possess her authority from
God. Later this error developed into a repudiation of human authority.
Finally there came the repudiation of all lawfully constituted authority
whether human or divine. It was the sequence of Protestantism,
Rationalism and Radical Socialism.
Moreover, in the Catholic countries themselves the Church ever remained
strong as long as all looked loyally to the centre of unity in the Holy
See at Rome. The whole history of Jansenism, Gallicanism, Febronianism
and Josephinism, is but the history of human ambition battling against
the divine authority of the Sovereign Pontiff. And even then the result
would have been a calming down of inordinate ambition before the claims
of reason and Revelation, had not an impetus come from without. For a
hundred years there has not been a revolution in the Latin lands which
has not been aroused and engineered by the influence of English speaking
powers. So that it may be said that if the Catholic countries were left
to their own ways, they would remain not only Catholic, but up to date
in every form of enlightenment and progress.
The War Upon Religion
CHAPTER I.
The Earlier Crises.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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