The modern Papacy goes far beyond just religion. The Pope is also a political figure with the power to sway key events in the world. Oftentimes, religion and politics mix and therefore it becomes the duty of the Pope to give guidance to world’s Catholics. Pope Pius XI, in 1924, told students in Italy that the Pope is not to be politically neutral. He said, “When Politics come near the Altar, then Religion, the Church, the Pontiff have not only the right but the duty to give directions and indications to be followed by Catholics." That statement show why Pope Pious XI and his successors have increasingly viewed their jobs as going beyond just religion. In a modern world, the Pope cannot just be a priest or bishop; he must also be a head of state, …show more content…
However, it has been demonstrated in the last century the head of the Roman Catholic Church can serve as one of the world’s most important political figures. Pope Pious XI was the first Pope to become a head of state, when he became the sovereign over the newly created independent state of Vatican City in 1929. The Popes that followed all subsequently increased the diplomatic capacity of the Vatican and emphasized the ability of the church to serve as a mediator between states. Ultimately it was the Papacy of Pope John Paul II, who was Pope from 1978 to 2005, that changed the Vatican from a political role-player to a political kingmaker. Starting in 1973, military dictator Augusto Pinochet of Chile ruled Chile with an iron fist into the next decade. Until, Pope John Paul II visited Chile in 1987 and publicly called for a democratically elected government in Chile. He criticized Pinochet’s torture of political dissent and openly called Church members to actively support democracy in response to Pinochet’s dictatorship. The strong statements by …show more content…
He has also worked to help improve relations between the Catholics and other religious groups such as Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and other Christian Denominations. Pope Francis even invited the leaders of Palestine and Israel to the Vatican to help find Middle East Peace Solutions. Additionally, the Pope has won praise as being a leader in promoting the collective responsibility of all humankind to protect the environment. Also, he has been involved diplomatically in trying to prevent war in the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks. Overall, the Pope has become a foreign policy staple and one of the most consequential world leaders. These current steps have won Pope Francis a lot of praise and recognition. Forbes has recently ranked Pope Francis the fifth most powerful person in the world. A 2016 WIN/Gallup International poll showed that Pope Francis is the most popular leader in the world. Fifty-four percent of people around the world have a favorable view of the Pontiff while only twelve percent have an unfavorable view. His plus 41 percent net favorability rating is higher than any other world leader. For comparison, here is how other world leaders stacked up in the poll; President Obama (+30), Angela Merkel (+13), David Cameron (+10), Francois Hollande (+6), and Vladimir Putin (-10). Additionally, Pope Francis’s popularity
To begin with, it must be remembered that Catholic culture and Catholic faith, while mutually supportive and symbiotic, are not the same thing. Mr. Walker Percy, in his Lost in the Cosmos, explored the difference, and pointed out that, culturally, Catholics in Cleveland are much more Protestant than Presbyterians in say, Taos, New Orleans, or the South of France. Erik, Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, points out that the effects of this dichotomy upon politics, attributing the multi-party system in Catholic countries to the Catholic adherence to absolutes; he further ascribes the two-party system to the Protestant willingness to compromise. However this may be, it does point up a constant element in Catholic thought---the pursuit of the absolute.
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
...The Pope creates many sides to his argument, conveying the need not only to redeem but also to repay their debts to God for making them the chosen race. He provokes the temper of many by speaking of the horrific crimes the Muslims are apparently committing, using distinctly graphic images to engage his followers.
The modern state seeks its self-preservation above all else, and history reveals that governments are more than willing to exercise their monopoly on force and coercion in order to cement and defend their authority (5-6). Normally, unified social bodies such as the Church seek to counteract the dominance of the state through their public and political influence. However, when the Church simultaneously abdicates its political connections and powers and interiorizes itself within individual Catholics, it frees the state to exercise its will with little backlash: “Once the church has been individualized and eliminated as Christ’s body in the world, only the state is left to impersonate God”
middle of paper ... ... al unity high above it despite the strength of his personal faith. Davies explicitly states that, 'whenever political interest and religious zeal clashed religion almost invariably gave way.' However, the author does concede at the beginning of the extract that his view is not widely held by many historians, therefore shedding doubt on its accuracy. To conclude, the Catholic Monarchs allowed religious interests to take precedence over some areas of politics, and were always willing to sue religion as an excuse for a controversial action.
The United States dire fight to end communism caused them to severely overlook the evil of Pinochet. In search around the globe for rising communism President Nixon instructed the CIA to cause the downfall of Allende, despite a 1970 CIA report that stated “‘the US has no vital national interest within Chile,’ and that the world ‘military balance of power would not be significantly altered’ if Allende came to power” (Kornbluh 2003, page 19). Even before Allende became President the fear of having a successful socialist or...
Towards the middle of the nineteenth century a “Catholic” candidate, Paul Blanshard, ran for presidency. Blanshard was a burden to the Republicans due to his religion. The view of Catholicism was an institutional and political problem. Even if the candidate was not Catholic, he was married by a Catholic priest and apparently that was a connected him to Catholic problems. A political problem because Catholicism was a world power that of Pr...
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
American foreign policy directed and influenced its activities in Chile. United States although contradicted its firm belief of democr...
The medieval Roman Catholic church was extremely powerful and influential through their taxes and ability to control peoples beliefs and religious ideas. The Church acted as a sort of over-lord to the monarchs of the European Christendom, encouraging and in some cases forcing rulers to act by their will and influencing the citizens of the country. The Pope gave himself the power to bestow the power of Holy Roman Emperor, a position which gave the emperor power over a large area of Europe. This ability gave the Pope power over the emperor therefore making the Pope ultimate leader of the continent. Because of all the Popes abilities, the Church became an extremely significant institute and force in the middle ages. Although the church is not nearly as powerful as it was, the remnants of its most powerful times can still be found today.
The role of religion in politics is a topic that has long been argued, and has contributed to the start of wars, schisms (both political and religious), and other forms of inter and intra-state conflict. This topic, as a result of its checkered past, has become quite controversial, with many different viewpoints. One argument, put forth by many people throughout history, is that religion and the government should remain separate to avoid any conflicting interests. This view also typically suggests that there is one, or several, large and organized religions like the Roman Catholic Church, which would be able to use their “divine” authority to sway the politics of a given state by promising or threatening some form of godly approval or disapproval. By leveraging their divine power, individual figures within a religion, as well as the religion as a whole, could gain secular power for themselves, or over others. A second view, which was developed by many theologians through history, suggests that that without religion there would be a general lack of morality in the people and leaders of a given state, which would give way to poor political decisions that would not be in the interest of the people and perhaps even God (or the gods). This argument, however, does not address the fact that morality can exist without religion. In sociology, it is commonly accepted that social norms, which include morality, can result from any number of things. Religion, laws, or the basic desire of survival can all create these norms, so it suffices to say that as a society, our morals reflect our desire to live in relative peace through the creation of laws that serve to help us to survive. The argument of whether or not religion and politics should mix...
Modern Catholic social teachings trace its beginnings to the writings of Pope Leo XIII. His insight on Christian philosophy, politics and the social order and applies to teachings in current injustices in the economic order. Leo XIII’s teachings were also critical participation in the developments of modern social and economic life. He rooted his social ethics in the supreme value of the human person and added that all political and social structures need to respect and respond to this primary and moral claim of human dignity. While the Church and the political community are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields, the Church is “at once the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person”.
Perhaps no other event was as influential to the rise of papacy in Rome as the decline of the Roman empire. With the decline of the empire, the church became the last refuge of stability. Without the protection of the empire, Rome was subject to poverty, disrepair, and attack from enemies.1 The rise of the papacy was a response to this situation. It was further cemented by the leadership of such men as Leo I and Gregory I, the latter sometimes referred to as the father of the medieval papacy.2 Finally, the granting of lands and authority to the bishop of Rome greatly increased the power of the Roman church.3