Modernism in the Catholic Church

In the Catholic Church, modernism refers to theological opinions expressed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but with influence reaching into the 21st century, which are characterized by a break with the past. Modernist Catholics form an amorphous group. The term appears in the 1907 encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis, in which Pope Pius X condemns modernism as embracing of every heresy. Modernists, and what are now termed "neo-modernists", generally do not openly use this label in describing themselves, although traditionalist Catholics continue to use the term.

Modernists came to prominence in French and British intellectual circles and, to a lesser extent, in Italy. The modernist movement was influenced by Protestant theologians and clergy, starting with the Tübingen School in the mid-19th century. Some modernists, however, such as George Tyrrell, S.J., would disagree with this; Tyrrell saw himself as loyal to the unity of the Church, and disliked liberal Protestantism.

Modernism in the Catholic Church was the subject of the encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis of Pope St. Pius X. Modernism may be described under the following broad headings:

As more naturalistic and scientific studies of history appeared, a way of thinking called historicism arose which suggested that ideas are conditioned by the age in which they are expressed; thus modernists generally believed that most dogma or teachings of the Church were novelties which arose because of specific circumstances obtaining at given points in its history. At the same time rationalism and literary criticism reduced the possible role of the miraculous, so that the philosophical systems in vogue at the time taught among other things that the existence of God could never be known (see Agnosticism).Theology, formerly “queen of the sciences”, was dethroned, and it was argued that religion must primarily be caused by, and thus be centered on, the feelings of believers. This argument bolsters the impact of secularism by weakening any position supporting the favouring of one religion over another in a given state, on the principle that if no scientific and reasonable assumption of its truth can be made, society should not be so organised as to privilege any particular religion.

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