Christianity, Enlightenment, and Social Change: Key Aspects

Main Criticisms of the Christian Faith

The work of great authors such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot highlighted many contradictions within the Church. They presented it as an obstacle to societal progress. These thinkers argued that any intermediary between God and man was absurd and should be rejected.

The Enlightenment and Christianity

The Enlightenment brought a new understanding of religion, particularly Christianity. Some Enlightenment thinkers strongly criticized the Christian faith and the Church as an institution.

Elements Favoring the Development of Missions

Several factors contributed to the growth of missions: improved communication, colonization by European powers providing security, support from European Christianity, the rise of missionary religious orders, and backing from the Church hierarchy, especially Gregory XVI.

Impressionism

Impressionism was a pictorial movement in late 19th and early 20th century Europe. Its main focus was light, with painters using plein air techniques to make their paintings more representative. Claude Monet was a key figure.

Statements Inconsistent with the Church

Key inconsistencies included the supremacy of reason, religious freedom, and the abolition of ecclesiastical privileges.

State Measures Against Church Privileges

The state took several measures: Catholicism ceased to be the official religion, freedom of religion and worship was introduced, control measures were established over the hierarchy and clergy (notably the Civil Constitution of the Clergy), Church properties were expropriated, and new forms of religion like Deism emerged. These changes greatly affected believers.

Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum on the Proletariat

Key points of the encyclical included the defense of the natural right to private property, the right of workers to a living wage, the condemnation of class struggle, and the recognition of the right to free association.

Changes Affecting the Faithful

When the state challenged the Church's privileges, many believers felt threatened. They could not freely celebrate the Eucharist, priests were controlled, and Christianity was silenced in the public sphere. This led to strong reactions, sometimes violent, such as the War of the Vendée, where Christians, mainly women, demanded the right to practice their religion without state control.