Candide: Voltaire's Attack On The Catholic Church

Throughout history, individuals have always questioned the world around them and wondered what the best possible source of existence is. During the Enlightenment, a period in which many thinkers questioned the authority of existing traditional structures, a division occurred between new, radical schools of thought that sought to explain the issues present in life, and the long-established institutions that defined life up to that moment, including monarchies and the Catholic Church. As a result of these new thinking processes that violated traditional understanding of the world, established offices such as the Catholic Church and monarchies across Europe lost power from attacks by philosophers. Through his novel Candide, Voltaire, a prominent

philosophe, attacked established institutions such as the various monarchies of Europe and the Catholic Church, as well as attacking the notion of optimism itself, the idea that all is for the better and that God created the best possible world for us to live in.
Mockery and distrust in the Catholic Church were common themes throughout the Enlightenment in Europe (Bristow).

In Candide, Voltaire launches attacks on the Catholic Church, through his witty examples, hidden meanings and interesting characters who bring about problems that are present throughout the Church hierarchy. In one such example, Voltaire uses the Baron, Cunegonde’s brother, as a testament to the problems present in the Catholic Church at the time. In one such instance, the Baron describes his promotion through the ranks of the Church through his good looks, and his supposed relationship with a priest. “As you know, my dear Candide, I was very handsome; I became even handsomer, so the Reverend Father Croust, the abbot of the house, took a great liking to me, and some time later I was sent to Rome”(Voltaire 52). Voltaire uses the Baron as a pungent example of the wrongs committed by some seemingly dishonest and corrupt individuals who do not properly serve their church, and seeks to give the reader a look at the inefficiency with which one of Europe’s most influential institutions was run. An exception to Voltaire’s satirical pen was James the Anabaptist, a member of the highly unpopular Anabaptists of his time period (Union County College). James was presented as a respectable, pious and kind human being who was spared from the strange occurrences that Voltaire left for Catholic ministers in Candide. By sympathizing with the persecuted Anabaptists of the time period, Voltaire shows his support for groups that were suppressed by the Church, and breaks from the common thought that prevailed in his time

period.
On a similar note, Voltaire’s attack on optimism is epitomized throughout the whole book, encompassing many intriguing characters and stories that leave Candide speechless. Through meeting personnages like the Old Woman, the Pococurante, Martin, and the Eldoradans, Candide quickly discovers that all is not for the better. Upon meeting with Martin, Candide learns much from his different perspective. Candide and Martin often sparred in terms of their opinions on optimism, and Candide would eventually learn to forget his beloved Pangloss’ theory. “‘You're a bitter man,’ said Candide. That’s because I’ve lived,’ said Martin” (68). Through this quote, Voltaire establishes that the more of the world that one sees, like Martin, the more out-of-touch and foreign doctrines like optimism will feel. Additional paramount examples of the attacks that “all is for the better” include the needless execution of an admiral in Portsmouth, the loss of Candide’s valuable sheep to illness and other ailments, the explosion of the Dutch merchant ship carrying them back to Europe, the ravaged life of the Old Woman, and the story of the Baron, just to name a few. By creating a depressing view of the world, and somehow tying each pessimistic event to a flaw in European culture, Voltaire uses Candide as a pawn to explain his grievances during the Enlightenment, and utilizes him as a weapon against Leibniz, whose theory Voltaire was vehemently against.
Additionally, Voltaire was certainly aware of the struggles that Europe faced during the Enlightenment and around the 17th Century. Many wars were waged during the period of the Enlightenment over senseless issues that monarchies created, such as the claim to a remote throne (Cronk). Voltaire uses the war between the Bulgars and the Avars as a representation of the Seven Years’ War, which ravaged Europe, causing tremendous loss of life and damage, and was ultimately a conflict fought for not valid, real, reasons, but rather for the control of an obscure and useless political throne. Candide’s unwilling integration in to the Bulgar army represents his Fall from grace; his Fall from the paradise of Thunder-ten-Tronckh Castle. “...Candide walked for a long time without knowing where he was going, weeping, raising his eyes to heaven, looking back often toward the most beautiful of castles, which contained the most beautiful of young baronesses” (17). Simply put, Voltaire criticizes the pain and suffering caused by the War and contrasts it with the earthly pleasures of Candide’s past life, which also serves to blast the kings and queens who controlled these unnecessary wars. Additionally, Voltaire takes full advantage of the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 and subsequent auto-da-fe that ravaged Lisbon, on a prominent Catholic holiday; using it as a scapegoat for Catholic domination of Europe.
All things considered, Voltaire’s book Candide explores several different topics that were relevant to the Enlightenment, including the controversial control of the Catholic Church and other established institutions of the day. Throughout his use of satire and mockery, Voltaire is able to explore several controversial topics with grace and pungent answers, and leaves the reader with many of his thoughts on pressing issues during the Enlightenment. As a result of Voltaire’s sound arguments concerning radical issues of the time and his brave, avant-garde system of thinking, he is able to instill his ideas in every reader and make his opinions known to the world.