Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo
Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo ("The Church of Jesus Christ") is a bull of Pope Pius VII. The bull of September 13, 1821 deals primarily with the excommunication of Freemasons and the spread of Masonic writings.
Pope Clement XII. 1738 had sharply condemned Freemasonry in the bull In eminenti apostolatus specula , after him Pope Benedict XIV. 1751 in the bull Providas romanorum . The bull Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo brought Freemasonry into connection with the group of Carbonari , which arose in Italy, who were accused of indifference in spiritual questions, the will to split the church and ultimately to destroy it, the secularization of Jesus Christ in particular through the nature of it Rites, the mockery of the sacraments , and alliances against the primacy of the Pope .
In this context, beyond the excommunication, the Pope orders that the writings and books of those groups not be read or distributed as printed or handwritten works.
Historically, the bull is seen primarily as a defense against the Carbonari, who, as supporters of the Italian national movement of the Risorgimento, endangered the continued existence of the papal state . The bull was also created under pressure from Metternich , who saw it as complementary to Austria's military intervention in Naples to maintain the Ancien Régime .
Text output
- Pius VII: Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo. Rome 1821 ( digitized copy of the Austrian National Library by Google Books ).
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Klaus Hammacher: The German Freemasonry in the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century. In: Helmut Reinalter (Ed.): Freemasons and secret societies in the 19th and 20th centuries in Central Europe. Studienverlag, Innsbruck, Vienna, Bozen 2016, pp. 87–127, here p. 102 (e-book edition) ; Frank J. Coppa : The Modern Papacy since 1789. Routledge, London, New York 1998, p. 58. Reference is made there to Alan Reinerman: Metternich and the Papal Condemnation of the Carbonari, 1821. In: Catholic Historical Review. Volume 54, 1968, pp. 55-69.