Gallicanism
Ideology | Defunct
1438 CE to 1869 CE
Gallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarchs' authority or the State's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope's.
Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it is akin to a form of Anglicanism but is nuanced, however, in that it plays down the authority of the Pope in Church without denying that there are some authoritative elements to the office associated with being primus inter pares (first among equals).
Other terms for the same or similar doctrines include Erastianism, Febronianism and Josephinism.University of Notre Dame professor John McGreevy defines it as "the notion that national customs might trump Roman (Catholic Church) regulations."
(Catholicism and American Freedom, John McGreevy.
Norton and Co., New York 2003, p.
26.
)The doctrine originates in France (the term derives from "Gaul").
In the 18th century it spreads to the Low Countries, especially the Netherlands, as well.
It is unrelated to the first-millennium Catholic Gallican rite.
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The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges and Official Gallicanism (1438)
Gallicanism, a theological and political doctrine emphasizing the relative independence of the French monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church in France from papal authority, had been evolving since at least the fourteenth century. Gallican theorists adhered to the conciliarist principle, which upheld that the authority of ecumenical councils was superior to that of the pope. They argued further that bishops derived their authority directly from divine institution, and crucially, asserted the French monarchy's complete autonomy from Rome in temporal affairs.
This doctrine was formally institutionalized as French policy with the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, promulgated by King Charles VII on July 7, 1438. The Pragmatic Sanction was enacted following a careful review of decrees issued by the Council of Basel, an ecumenical council that challenged papal supremacy. Under its terms, the French Church's administrative and political autonomy from papal jurisdiction was explicitly recognized, with Rome retaining authority strictly in doctrinal matters.
Moreover, the Pragmatic Sanction significantly expanded the French monarch's influence, granting him considerable control over ecclesiastical appointments and the taxation of clergy within the kingdom. This critical document marked a pivotal shift in church-state relations, firmly embedding Gallican principles within the political and ecclesiastical structure of France.
The Pragmatic Sanction thus had profound long-term implications, fundamentally redefining the relationship between France and the papacy and solidifying the French monarchy’s ability to exert direct control over church affairs. Its legacy would endure for centuries, influencing subsequent church-state relations not only within France but throughout Europe.
The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, issued by King Charles VII of France, on July 7, 1438, required a General Church Council, with authority superior to that of the pope, to be held every ten years, required election rather than appointment to ecclesiastical offices, prohibited the pope from bestowing, and profiting from, benefices, and limited appeals to Rome.
The king accepted many of the decrees of the Council of Basel without endorsing its efforts to coerce Pope Eugene IV.
The Gallican church—in the eyes of some—had thus declared administrative independence from the church in Rome, suppressed the payment of annates to Rome, and forbade papal intervention in the appointment of French prelates.
While this did result in a loss of papal power in France, the movement of conciliarists itself was divided.
In 1449, the Council of Basel was dissolved and the Concilliar Movement had suffered a nearly fatal blow.
The popes, especially Pius II, have lobbied for the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction; and the French crown has used promises of repeal as an inducement to the papacy to embrace policies favoring its interests.
In October 1461, Pius gains at first what appears to be a most brilliant success by inducing the new King of France, Louis XI, to abolish the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, but Louis expects that Pius II will in return espouse the French cause in Naples, and when he finds himself disappointed, he virtually reestablishes the Pragmatic Sanction by royal ordinance.
Henry II’s Edict of Écouen, proclaimed in 1559, lays the ground for systematic persecution of the increasingly powerful French Protestants, or Huguenots, who have became so powerful that ...
...a synod meets in Paris in 1559 to organize a nationwide church of some 2,000 reformed congregations, issuing the so-called Gallican Confession of Faith.
Richelieu had sent Mazarin in 1640 to Savoy, where the regency of Christine, the Duchess of Savoy, and sister of Louis XIII, is disputed by her brothers-in-law, the princes Maurice and Thomas of Savoy, and he succeeds not only in firmly establishing Christine but in winning over the princes to France.
This great service is rewarded by his promotion to the rank of cardinal on the presentation of the King of France in December 1641.
He returns soon after to Rome.
Nearing the end of his life, Richelieu has alienated many people, including Pope Urban VIII.
Richelieu is displeased by the Pope's refusal to name him the papal legate in France; in turn, the Pope does not approve of the administration of the French church, or of French foreign policy.
However, the conflict is largely healed when the Pope grants a cardinalate to Mazarin.
Despite troubled relations with the Roman Catholic Church, Richelieu does not support the complete repudiation of papal authority in France, as is advocated by the Gallicanists.
Alexander VII's pontificate has been shadowed by continual friction with Cardinal Mazarin, advisor to Louis XIV of France, who had opposed him during the negotiations that led to the Peace of Westphalia and who defended the prerogatives of the Gallican Church.
During the conclave he had been hostile to Chigi's election, but was in the end compelled to accept him as a compromise.
However, he prevented Louis XIV from sending the usual embassy of obedience to Alexander VII, and, while he lived, foiled the appointment of a French ambassador to Rome, diplomatic affairs being meantime conducted by cardinal protectors, generally personal enemies of the Pope.
In 1662, the equally hostile Duc de Crequi had been made ambassador.
By his abuse of the traditional right of asylum granted to ambassadorial precincts in Rome, he had precipitated a quarrel between France and the papacy, which resulted in Alexander VII's temporary loss of Avignon and his forced acceptance of the humiliating treaty of Pisa in 1664.
Alexander has also encouraged architecture, and the general improvement of Rome, where houses have been razed to straighten and widen streets and where he has had the opportunity to be a great patron for Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the decorations of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, titular churches for several of the Chigi cardinals, the Scala Regia, the Chair of St. Peter in the Vatican Basilica.
In particular, he has sponsored Bernini's construction of the beautiful colonnade in the piazza of St. Peter's Basilica.
He dies in May, 1667, and is memorialized in a spectacular tomb by Bernini.
The pontificate of Innocent is marked by the struggle between the absolutism and hegemonic intentions of Louis XIV, and the primacy of the Catholic Church.
Louis as early as 1673 had by his own power extended the right of the régale over the provinces of Languedoc, Guyenne, Provence, and Dauphiné, where it had previously not been exercised.
All the efforts of Innocent to induce Louis XIV to respect the rights and primacy of the Church proved useless.
The King convokes in 1682 an assembly of the French clergy, which adopts the four articles that became known as the Gallican Liberties.
Innocent XI annuls the four articles on April 11, 1682, and refuses his approbation to all future episcopal candidates who had taken part in the assembly.
Noël Alexandre, or Natalis Alexander, a controversial theologian and ecclesiastical historian, had joined the Dominicans at Rouen in 1655, received a doctorate in divinity from the Sorbonne in 1675, and had become regent of studies at Saint-Jacques, Paris.
Pope Innocent XI in 1684 condemns Natalis' chief work, Selecta historiae ecclesiasticae capita, twenty-four volumes (1676–86; “Selected Chapters of Ecclesiastical History”) because of its defense of Gallicanism, a French position advocating restriction of papal power, and for its defense of Jansenism, a religious movement of nonorthodox tendencies in France based on the late Dutch Bishop Cornelius Jansen's heretical doctrines on predestination, free will, and grace.
Alexander XIII has initiated measures that lead eventually to a solution of the disputes between the papacy and Louis XIV of France.
Alexander maintains the condemnation of the Gallican Articles of 1682, which restrict papal authority, and opposes Jansenism.
Known also for his blatant nepotism and worldly outlook, he had died on February 1, 1691.
Antonio Pignatelli, who had been made cardinal in 1681 by Pope Innocent XI, emulates his patron’s pontificate after being elected pope on July 12 as Innocent XII.
Pope Innocent in 1693 extends the ban on money-lending to Ferrara and other Jewish ghettos under his authority.
He breaks the politico-religious deadlock between King Louis XIV of France and the Holy See by influencing Louis to disavow the four Gallican Articles of 1682 issued against him.
In exchange, Innocent agrees to extend the king's right to administer vacant sees.