3 - The papacy

Summary

Introduction

By the end of the reign of Pius X in August 1914, the construction of the modern papacy was virtually complete. Nearly all of its most typical characteristics were in place – papal infallibility, the ‘Romanisation’ of national hierarchies through the appointment of increasing numbers of bishops at least partially educated in Rome, bureaucratic centralisation of decision-making in all ecclesiastical affairs in Rome via the agency of papal nuncios and apostolic delegates, and the use of papal encyclicals and apostolic letters to enforce the magisterium in matters not only of dogmatic theology and moral theology, but of social doctrine, liturgy, popular piety and those touching upon church–state relations in individual countries. Perhaps most important of all, the cult around the personality of the reigning pontiff had been fully developed, underpinned by the mobilisation of lay support through the Catholic press, Peter’s Pence, pilgrimages and early forms of ‘Catholic Action’ organisation.

The only major elements of modern papal absolutism over the Roman Catholic church that were still lacking were the codification of canon law, which would be promulgated by Benedict XV in 1917 but which in point of fact had been inaugurated by his predecessor ten years earlier, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, to replace national/regional variants of basic Christian doctrine taught to the laity, which would first be prospected by Benedict XV in 1921 but not brought to fruition until the reign of John Paul II in 1992.