Identité, islam et catholicisme allemand

This papers analyses the speech by Benedict XVI at the University of Ratisbonne. I focus on a often overlooked aspect of this speech: the critic of Modernity and the general perspective for the future of religions. Benedict XVI develops an analysis of the place of the Church through the concepts of ‘faith’, ‘reason’, ‘violence’. The apologetic tone is clear: only the Catholic Church has maintened a “reasonable religion“ according to the Pope. But he defends an international perspective for the Church in a globalised world and sketch a manifesto for Catholicism in a multicultural civilisation.

Documents from the Vatican Secret Archives Concerning the Pontificate of Benedict XV:

This brief overview sheds light on certain aspects of Benedict XV’s pontificate: the conditions of dioceses and the bishops’ pastoral governance; the monitoring of religious practices and the particular needs of specific regions and nations; and the supervision of disciplinary matters regarding preaching and the clergy’s participation in politics or social life (i.e. dancing parties or membership at associations such as the Knights of Columbus). Through a review of primary sources, this contribution demonstrates a growing attention toward the non-European world manifested by the Church’s concern for emigrants as well as through an interest in Protestant proselytism. Furthermore, specific records indicate a gradual process of modernization taking place within the Church: for example, the projection of films in churches or the clergy’s use of modern means of transportation.

Jean-Paul II et la compréhension moderne du politique

This text presents pope Jean Paul II’s thought on modernity. It highlights the existence of an ambivalence. The Polish pope, very widely inspired by the phenomenology and by the conciliar event, is situated by no means in a traditionalist perspective: the modern world, he says, is stemming from the Christian matrix; it continues to carry the essential values, such as freedom, equality and brotherhood. However, this world is not flawless. By separating from God’s law, it locked itself into a ‘culture of death’ of which it shows, for example, the anomic legislations on the family. The analysis calls a model of ‘integralist’ reinvestment, structured around the program of ‘new evangelization’.

Living the Gospel in History

The study examines the attitude of Roncalli faced with the problem of renewal and reform of the Church. New researches tend to detect the proximity of the young Roncalli to some instances of Catholic reformers of the early twentieth century, despite the harsh condemnation of modernism by Pius X (1907). Roncalli paid attention to history, at least in part considered in terms other than those proposed by the intransigent Catholicism. The propensity of Roncalli to grasp the positive aspects of history is clearly revealed during his pontificate, as in the opening speech Gaudet Mater Ecclesia at the Vatican II Council and in other texts, but it was hampered by conservatives in the Curia.

Contre les « erreurs modernes »

This article focuses on Pope Benedict XV’s teaching on preaching during World War 1. It is based on three main sources: 1) the encyclical Humani generis redemptionem, published in 1917; the unedited drafts, which have recently been made available from the Vatican Secret Archives; 2) Pope Benedict XV’s speeches to the Lenten preachers in Rome (1914-1922); 3) Codex Iuris Canonici’s canons 1327-1351 (the Codex was also published in 1917). The analysis shows that the main concerns underlying Pope Benedict XV’s teaching on preaching contained nationalism and fought secularization.

Paul VI : un pape réformateur pour une Église en phase avec son époque

This short essay gives a brief outline of Paul VI’s pontificate (1963-1978). It focuses on the following topics: Paul VI’s efforts to lead and implement the Second Vatican Council; his reforms of ecclesiastical institutions; the resistances to change by conservative Catholics and their sway over Pope Montini and the Roman Curia; the problematic moral teaching of Paul VI; his effort for a Church that keeps its role as expert in human affairs, although in a non-confessional way.

Vatican Radio and Modern Propaganda

The essay deals with the employment of Vatican Radio as a modern instrument, which supplied the Catholic Church with a tool of modernisation. A special focus is put on the changes, in terms of method and content, that the radio effected in the apostolate. In order to demonstrate the increasing importance acquired by Vatican Radio for the diplomatic and propaganda aims of the Holy See, it will be considered the case-study of the condemnation of the Croatian anti-Semitic laws during World War II.

« Perfidie judaïque » : un débat sur l’accueil de la modernité dans l’église

The Essay focuses on the Debate about the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews from the pontificate of Pius XI to the Pontificate of John XXIII. The Question arises from the modern historical and philological research about the Roman Liturgy. It was discovered that the Word ‘perfidious’ – attributed to the Jewish People – had in the language of the first Christian Centuries a doctrinal and theological meaning, not a moral one. The subsequent demand of a reform in that liturgical Prayer had a dual objective: to adequate the Church to the modern culture and to avoid a catholicsupport to the growing Antisemitism. The formal request made by the Society Amici Israel to the Holy See was refused in 1929, but the discussion on the subject went on for decades until the decision of Pope John XXIII to delete that word in 1959.

John Paul II’s Canonization Policy

During his pontificate John Paul II proclaimed 1342 beati and 482 saints, such a large amount that it accounts for more than half of the sanctifications across the entirety of Catholicism stretching back to the Congregation of Rites (1588). Along with such fruitful use of sanctification came a certain planning that was not only pastoral in nature, but also political, in the broadest sense of the term. The essay aims to analyse how under John Paul II’s pontificate the traditional concept of holiness began to mutate, taking on multiple functions, while its concrete manifestations – beatifications and canonisations – became active instruments of ecclesiastical government.

Le pape François et la mondialisation

The essay aims to analyse Francis’s pontificate in the context of globalisation. First of all, it sights to understand the conception of time and the role of the Church in contemporary history according to Bergoglio. Secondly, it is Pope Francis’ own report to globalisation that is examined. The main axes of the mission of the Church traced by the pontificate of Francis draw inspiration from the Second Vatican Council, in a non-static and formalistic way, but rather dynamic, in order to give strength to the announcement of the Gospel of mercy in contemporary history and to help humanity overcome its dramatic conflicts.