Berlin lay address

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The Berlin lay address from 1869 was an attempt by Catholic German politicians to influence the German episcopate in the run-up to the First Vatican Council in order to prevent the expected dogmatization of papal infallibility .

background

Pope Pius IX called a general council to Rome in the summer of 1868 , which was to be opened on December 8, 1869. It was engaged in public and controversially discussed in advance, whereby the planned dogmatization of papal infallibility came to the fore. This question divided Catholicism in general into infallibilists and anti-infallibilists. In German Catholicism (at least in the publicly articulating part) the negative voices clearly predominated, both among the laity and in the episcopate; Among the German bishops only Konrad Martin , Bishop of Paderborn , and Ignatius von Senestrey , Bishop of Regensburg , could be counted among the clear supporters of the infallibility dogma. The opponents of dogmatization either did not believe in papal infallibility itself, or they considered the decision to be inopportune because it would put the church to an acid test and could provide new nourishment for the widespread anti-Catholicism . The Badische Kulturkampf , the reception of the “Roman Letters”, which the church historian Ignaz von Döllinger had published in the Allgemeine Zeitung , and also the circular dispatch of the Bavarian Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst government in April 1869, through which the European governments took joint action against an infallibility dogma should be achieved, gave a foretaste.

Emergence

Against this background, Catholic politicians who were in Berlin for meetings of the Customs Parliament suggested a position by Catholic lay people against the dogmatization of papal infallibility. Initiated by Joseph Edmund Jörg and Peter Reichensperger , a preparatory committee was formed to work out an address. In addition to Jörg and Reichensperger, members of the committee were Rudolf Probst , Ludwig Windthorst , Andreas Freytag and Clemens Hosius . The draft address was discussed and approved on June 17, 1869 at a meeting of members of the Customs Parliament ( Berlin lay council ). Windthorst, who had to leave Berlin early for private reasons, came up with the idea of ​​sending the address to the German Bishops' Conference meeting in Fulda in September 1869 as an expression of opinion by Catholic lay people. Jörg was commissioned to find out from the bishops how they wanted to know the opinion of the lay people. The Archbishop of Munich, Gregor von Scherr, recommended that he express his opinion internally and strongly advised against publication in the press; Michael von Deinlein , the Archbishop of Bamberg , expressed himself in the same way to Georg von Franckenstein . So the Berlin lay address of the bishops' conference was passed on via Gregor von Scherr without having become known to the public.

content

The lay address in Berlin expresses its concern in an extremely cautious manner. First of all, the convening of the council is welcomed and emphasized that the authors of the address felt bound by its decisions. Against the initiative of the Bavarian government it is argued that the council could decide without being influenced by secular powers. Then the rejection of a separation of church and state, such as that of Pius IX. had represented in the Syllabus errorum , referred to: Admittedly the lay people admit that it is "the normal condition of Christian society willed by God that church and state create in holy harmony with the temporal and eternal well-being of humanity"; However, against the background of the German situation, the authors emphasize that "in the confused circumstances" of the present day they also consider the view that the separation of church and state can be a prerequisite for church freedom as justifiable. Finally, on the decisive point, the address formulates literally: “When in earlier centuries external circumstances and the misfortunes of the times could cause burning doubts as to whether the head of the Catholic Church alone or only in connection with the entirety of the bishops adopted the positive beliefs the deposited treasure of the church, according to our church consciousness there is no need for a solution today as the council once called by divine providence should be determined to open a new period of general church assemblies with universally undisputed authority. "

effect

A direct effect of the Berlin lay address cannot be proven because the majority of the addressees, the bishops of Germany, were of very similar opinion. The Bishops' Conference met in Fulda from September 1 to 7, 1869, discussed the problem of papal infallibility and published a pastoral letter. In addition, the bishops turned to Pius IX in a letter (signed by 14 bishops), in which the definition of papal infallibility was described as "less opportune". The initiators of the address, such as Ludwig Windthorst, continued to try to influence church decision-makers, including Clemens Schrader and Cardinal State Secretary Giacomo Antonelli . Ultimately, all these efforts were unsuccessful: the infallibility dogma was passed on July 18, 1870; all German bishops submitted to papal authority, as did the lay people involved in the Berlin address. The path that Ignaz von Döllinger and the founders of the Old Catholic Church went to excommunication remained a marginal phenomenon among Catholic intellectuals.

literature

  • Dieter Albrecht (Ed.): Joseph Edmund Jörg. Correspondence 1846–1901 (publications of the Commission for Contemporary History, Series A, Volume 41), Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, Mainz 1988. ISBN 3-7867-1330-8
  • Margaret Lavinia Anderson: Windthorst. Central politician and opponent of Bismarck (research and sources on contemporary history, Volume 14), Droste, Düsseldorf 1988. ISBN 3-7700-0774-3
  • Hans-Georg Aschoff , Heinz-Jörg Heinrich (ed.): Ludwig Windthorst. Letters 1834–1880 (publications of the Commission for Contemporary History Series A Volume 45), Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 1995. ISBN 3-506-79885-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Address has the older meaning "written request, expression of opinion, petition, request to a mostly official body (government, president, parliament etc.)", see address ( Wiktionary ).
  2. ^ Rudolf Lill : The victory of ultramontanism (1848-1878) . In: Raymund Kottje , Bernd Moeller (Ed.): Ecumenical Church History . Volume 3. 4th edition. Mainz 1989, pp. 183-209, here: pp. 193 ff.
  3. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff , Heinz-Jörg Heinrich (ed.): Ludwig Windthorst. Letters 1834-1880 . Paderborn 1995, p. 262 with note 1.
  4. ↑ Dieter Albrecht (Ed.): Joseph Edmund Jörg. Correspondence 1846–1901 . Mainz 1988, p. 319 f.
  5. ↑ Dieter Albrecht (Ed.): Joseph Edmund Jörg. Correspondence 1846–1901 . Mainz 1988, p. 316.
  6. ↑ Text of the address: Dieter Albrecht (Ed.): Joseph Edmund Jörg. Correspondence 1846–1901 . Mainz 1988, pp. 320-322.
  7. ↑ Quoted from: Rudolf Lill: Der Sieg des Ultramontanismus (1848–1878) . In: Raymund Kottje, Bernd Moeller (Ed.): Ecumenical Church History . Volume 3. 4th edition. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1989, pp. 183–209, here: p. 194.
  8. ↑ Margaret L. Anderson: Windthorst. Central politician and opponent of Bismarck . Düsseldorf 1988, p. 123 ff.