Catholicism and the Struggle for Human Dignity

Benedict XIV

Pope from 1740–1758 who criticized Jesuit missionaries for distorting Christianity by wearing native robes in China; associated with Reform Catholicism

Clement XIV

Pope from 1769–1774 who suppressed the Jesuits in 1773

Pius VI

Pope from 1775–1799 who condemned the French Revolution and the Synod of Pistoia; was captured by Napoleon after French troops occupied Rome

Pius VII

Pope from 1800–1823 who negotiated with Napoleon and signed the Concordat of 1801; excommunicated Napoleon in 1809 after the annexation of the Papal States

Leo XII

Pope from 1823–1829

Pius VIII

Pope from 1829–1830

Gregory XVI

Pope from 1831–1846; before becoming Pope

Pius IX

Pope from 1846–1878; Pope during Vatican I; proclaimed the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and issued Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors in 1864

Leo XIII

Pope from 1878–1903; promoted the revival of Thomism and the influence of Thomas Aquinas

St. Pius X

Pope from 1903–1914

Benedict XV

Pope from 1914–1922

Pius XI

Pope from 1922–1939

Pius XII

Pope from 1939–1958

St. John XXIII

Pope from 1958–1963 who called the Second Vatican Council

St. Paul VI

Pope from 1963–1978 who continued and oversaw the completion of Vatican II

John Paul I

Pope in 1978 who served for approximately one month

St. John Paul II

Pope from 1978–2005

Benedict XVI

Pope from 2005–2013

Francis

Pope from 2013–2025

Leo XIV

Pope beginning in 2025 and current Pope

War of the Vendée

Counter-revolutionary uprising and civil war in western France from 1793–1796; involved conservative Catholics and peasants resisting anticlerical reforms and military conscription

Synod of Pistoia

Local church council held in Tuscany in 1786 that promoted Catholic reform and sought to reduce papal power; later condemned by Pius VI

Peace of Westphalia

1648 treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War

Nation-state

Political unit based on territorial sovereignty that became increasingly important after the Peace of Westphalia

Edmund Burke

British political thinker who wrote Reflections on the Revolution in France in 1790 and criticized the French Revolution's rejection of established institutions and traditions

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke's 1790 work criticizing the French Revolution and its rejection of inherited political and religious institutions

Joseph de Maistre

Counter-revolutionary thinker who opposed democracy and defended traditional monarchy and strong papal authority

Du Pape

Joseph de Maistre's 1819 work defending papal primacy and strong papal authority over bishops

Papal primacy

The belief that the Pope possesses supreme authority within the Catholic Church

Ultramontanism

Catholic movement emphasizing strong papal authority and loyalty to the Pope

Reform Catholicism

Catholic tradition emphasizing church councils

The Genius of Christianity

1802 work by François-René de Chateaubriand that helped inspire the revival of ultramontane Catholicism

François-René de Chateaubriand

French writer whose 1802 work The Genius of Christianity helped inspire Catholic religious revival and ultramontanism

Revival of ultramontane Catholicism

Nineteenth-century revival that deepened Catholics' attachment to the institutional Church and emphasized papal authority

Catherine McAuley

Irish Catholic religious leader who founded the Sisters of Mercy and combined religious life with active service

House of Mercy

Institution founded by Catherine McAuley on Baggot Street in Dublin and opened in 1827 to educate and assist poor women

Sisters of Mercy

Women's religious order founded by Catherine McAuley that combined prayer and contemplation with active service to people in need

Fr. Mier

Mexican priest associated with Reform Catholicism who defended national ecclesiastical traditions and greater church council and lay authority; he was exiled from Mexico

Fr. Mier and Guadalupe

Fr. Mier claimed that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Thomas soon after his death rather than to Juan Diego

Lay trustee controversy

Dispute over whether laypeople should have authority in Catholic parish governance through parish trustees

Francis Kenrick

Catholic bishop who opposed lay authority in parish governance and emphasized clerical authority

Cortes of Cádiz

Representative assembly established in Cádiz that retained the monarchy while proclaiming national sovereignty

Constitution of Cádiz

Constitution produced by the Cortes of Cádiz that became influential in Latin America and other regions

54 priests of the Cortes

Fifty-four priests elected to the Cortes who supported the revolutionary government and were later executed as traitors after Ferdinand VII restored absolute monarchy

Congress of Vienna

1814–1815 diplomatic meeting that reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars and strengthened conservative monarchies

Holy Alliance

Alliance created in 1815 by Russia

Vincenzo Pecci

Future Pope Leo XIII who trained as a neo-Thomist

Neo-Thomism

Revival of the philosophy and theology of Thomas Aquinas that became increasingly important in nineteenth-century Catholic intellectual life

Thomas Aquinas

Medieval Catholic theologian and philosopher whose thought became highly influential in the nineteenth-century revival of Thomism

Daniel O'Connell

Irish political leader who advocated Catholic political rights and democratic participation