– Aurelio Porfiri
The word “modernism” perhaps does not say much to many people. Yet this current of thought was a great concern for the Church, especially in the early twentieth century. This concern came from the fact that modernism is an accommodation to some ideas of modernity that are opposed to Catholic ones, an accommodation therefore disadvantageous for the Church itself, which can cause a sort of emptying from within.
This current of thought was vigorously condemned by St Pius X, in some epochal documents, such as the encyclical Pascendi (1907). In this encyclical the Pope affirmed: “Having reached this point, Venerable Brethren, we have sufficient material in hand to enable us to see the relations which Modernists establish between faith and science, including history also under the name of science. And in the first place it is to be held that the object of the one is quite extraneous to and separate from the object of the other. For faith occupies itself solely with something which science declares to be unknowable for it. Hence each has a separate field assigned to it: science is entirely concerned with the reality of phenomena, into which faith does not enter at all; faith on the contrary concerns itself with the divine reality which is entirely unknown to science. Thus the conclusion is reached that there can never be any dissension between faith and science, for if each keeps on its own ground they can never meet and therefore never be in contradiction. And if it be objected that in the visible world there are some things which appertain to faith, such as the human life of Christ, the Modernists reply by denying this. For though such things come within the category of phenomena, still in as far as they are lived by faith and in the way already described have been by faith transfigured and disfigured, they have been removed from the world of sense and translated to become material for the divine. Hence should it be further asked whether Christ has wrought real miracles, and made real prophecies, whether He rose truly from the dead and ascended into heaven, the answer of agnostic science will be in the negative and the answer of faith in the affirmative – yet there will not be, on that account, any conflict between them. For it will be denied by the philosopher as philosopher, speaking to philosophers and considering Christ only in His historical reality; and it will be affirmed by the speaker, speaking to believers and considering the life of Christ as lived again by the faith and in the faith.” The relationship between science and faith will be one of the important issues on which the struggle of modernism will take place in the Church itself.
Yet this current of thought resurfaces in certain periods with more vigor than ever before. This is the purpose of a study day entitled: “Old and new modernism. The roots of the Church’s crisis,” which took place in Rome on 23 June 2018 and which was organized by the Lepanto Foundation. The study day saw good public participation, an attentive audience that was able to intervene during the debate with pertinent questions.
The conference was opened by Professor Roberto De Mattei, historian, and the morning’s work was introduced and moderated by Professor Joseph Shaw, of the University of Oxford. Professor Shaw outlined some of the problems that are deeply felt in the current Church and that are a consequence or cause of a resurgence of modernism in the Church.
Again Roberto De Mattei outlined the origins of modernism, seen as a consequence of the 19th-century German philosophy. The historian noted how modernism is not just a doctrine, but almost a psychological attitude. He outlined the interpreters and currents of modernism up to the conciliar turn. Commenting on Pascendi, De Mattei stated: “The core of modernism for Saint Pius X does not consist so much in the opposition to one or the other of revealed truths, but in the radical change of the very notion of ‘truth,’ through the acceptance of the ‘principle of immanence’ which is the foundation of modern thought as summarized by the proposition 58 condemned by the Lamentabili Decree: ‘Truth is no longer immutable of man himself, since it evolves with him, in him and for him.’ Immanence is a philosophical conception that assumes the experience as absolute and excludes any transcendent reality. For modernists, it arises from a religious feeling, which not being based on certain rational premises is actually fideism. Faith is not to adhere of the intelligence to a truth revealed by God, but a religious need that emanates from the dark background (subconsciousness) of the human soul. The representations of divine realities are reduced to ‘symbols,’ whose ‘intellectual formula’ changes according to the ‘inner experience’ of the believer. The formulas of the dogma, for the modernists, do not contain absolute truths: they are images of the truth that must adapt to religious sentiment. Ultimately religious truth is resolved in the self-consciousness of the individual in the face of individual problems of faith. In this sense, the attempt of Gnosticism to embrace all the truths through a single principle, the subjectivity of the truth and the relativity of all its formulas are resumed. For St Pius X, ‘in fact the immanence of the modernists wants and admits that every phenomenon of conscience is born of man as man. So of legitimate consequence we deduce that God and man are the same thing: and therefore pantheism.’”
Enrico Maria Radaelli, philosopher and disciple of the great thinker Romano Amerio, outlined Amerio’s critique of modernism. A particularly harsh relationship in some of its contents, certainly subject to readings on various levels and which provoked different reactions.
After reading a message by Msgr Bernard Fellay, superior of the priestly fraternity of St Pius X, there was the report by the Canadian philosopher and theologian John Lamont who addressed the theme of Nouvelle Théologie and its relationship with neo-modernism. Nouvelle Théologie is a theological movement that began its journey in the first half of the twentieth century. The term was coined in the ’40s by the Roman theologian Pietro Parente, who eventually became a Cardinal.
The intervention of the Dominican Albert Kallio, of the community of Avrillé in France, focused on the theme of collegiality and the importance that this theme had at least since the Second Vatican Council. The Dominican father focused on the issues that this emphasis on the theme of collegiality has brought.
In the afternoon Abbé Claude Barthe, liturgical expert, naturally focused on the theme of liturgical reform as a mirror of the project carried out by the Council. Then, again to stay on the subject of liturgy, the paper by Dr Maria Guarini who spoke about the application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, issued by the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI.
Fr Alberto Strumia, priest and scientist, dealt with the relationship between science and faith, one of the strong themes when it comes to modernism and relationship with modernity. Valerio Gigliotti, associate professor of medieval and modern history, focused on some aspects concerning the limits of papal authority. The last report was from the Chilean José Antonio Ureta who reflected on the last five years of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
As mentioned earlier, the theme of modernism is certainly still relevant today, because it speaks to us of the often troubled relationship that the Church has had with modernity. Concluding Pascendi, Saint Pius X stated: “This, Venerable Brethren, is what we have thought it our duty to write to you for the salvation of all who believe. The adversaries of the Church will doubtless abuse what we have said to refurbish the old calumny by which we are traduced as the enemy of science and of the progress of humanity. In order to oppose a new answer to such accusations, which the history of the Christian religion refutes by never failing arguments, it is Our intention to establish and develop by every means in our power a special Institute in which, through the cooperation of those Catholics who are most eminent for their learning, the progress of science and other realms of knowledge may be promoted under the guidance and teaching of Catholic truth. God grant that we may happily realise our design with the ready assistance of all those who bear a sincere love for the Church of Christ. But of this we will speak on another occasion. Meanwhile, Venerable Brethren, fully confident in your zeal and work, we beseech for you with our whole heart and soul the abundance of heavenly light, so that in the midst of this great perturbation of men’s minds from the insidious invasions of error from every side, you may see clearly what you ought to do and may perform the task with all your strength and courage. May Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, be with you by His power; and may the Immaculate Virgin, the destroyer of all heresies, be with you by her prayers and aid.”
Follow
