Pope Pius VI has met with practical…
July 1782 CE
Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, writing under the pseudonym of "Febronius", the chief German literary exponent of Gallican ideas of national Catholic Churches, had himself been induced (not without scandal) publicly to retract his positions; but they are adopted in Austria nevertheless.
Here the social and ecclesiastical reforms in the spirit of the Enlightenment which have been undertaken by Emperor Joseph II and his minister Kaunitz touch the supremacy of Rome so nearly that in the hope of staying them Pius VI adopts the exceptional course of visiting Vienna in person.
He leaves Rome on February 27, 1782 and, though magnificently received by the Emperor in July, his mission will prove a fiasco; he will, however, be able a few years later to curb those German archbishops who had shown a tendency towards independence in 1786 at the Congress of Ems.
Locations
People
Groups
Regions
Central Europe
View →Subregions
