Oath against Modernism

The so-called anti-modernist oath was on September 1, 1910 introduced by Pope Pius X. oath. He had to be filed by clerics of the Catholic Church. The oath is against those teachings which are referred to as modernism, and in 1864 in the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX Errorum. were convicted. The then-known documents Pascendi and Lamentabili (both from 1907 ) is referenced in him.

The oath had to take:

• All subdeacons
• All priests before they were given the authority to hear confessions and preaching
• All priests and canons before assuming their duties
• All officials of the episcopal and papal curia
• All religious superiors and teachers, before acceptance of their duties
• All students at Catholic university facilities before receiving the official academic degrees such as Baccalaureate, License, Diploma, PhD; exempt from this rule were 1962 students from the Orthodox Churches.

In 1967 Pope Paul VI. the anti-modernist oath, and replaced him by a creed. Without repeating the condemnations same pope reaffirmed in 1968 but the essential beliefs of Catholicism in the Credo of the People of God.

First Section

The Eidleistende swears to accept the statements of faith of the Church's Magisterium, particularly following five main points that were faced the " errors of the Present":

• First: " I confess that God recognized the origin and end of all things, with the natural light of reason through what is created, that is, through the visible works of creation, as a cause by the action, with security and also it can be proved " (see also the article in Natural theology).
• Second: " I acknowledge the external evidence of revelation, that is, the works of God, primarily the miracles and prophecies, when all sure signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion. I note that they are adapted to the spirit of all times and people, and the present for the best. "
• Third: "Hard I believe that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, used directly or directly by the real and historical Christ himself, during his life among us, and that, upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy and was built on his steady successor. "
• Fourth: Here the unreserved acceptance of the immutable doctrine is required, should be discarded Consequently, the " heterodox invention " of a " development of the beliefs " that has come from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers always in the same mind and in the same meaning to us. " " ( that is, the representation of time bondage and historical development of doctrinal statements ) and the assumption that beliefs are by" " arose and would " invention of our thinking "or " creation of human consciousness to accomplish in the future in unlimited progress "(ie develop ).
• Fifth: What is desired is the confession, " that faith is not a blind religious feeling, [ ... ], but that he is a true assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from the outside, through which we on the authority of God the Truthful hold out for true what us from personal God our creator and Lord, said, testified and was manifested. "

Second Section

In this section, the approval of the following sentences is to summon:

• To condemn the error of all those who claimed faith of the Church can contradict history and today's Catholic dogmas could not be reconciled with the reliable sources of the Christian religion into harmony.

• Condemned the opinion according to which the Christian scholars could unite two people in it, one that thinks and one that conducts research, so that it is the historian allowed to hold something to be true that the same person from the standpoint of faith as must recognize wrong.

• Is discarded the error of those who say that the teacher, the questions of historical theology treated or whoever is a writer deals with this subject, first had to learn about free from all conditions, be it in terms of the supernatural origin of Catholic tradition, was it in terms of the promised of God counsel of each part of revealed truth.

• Furthermore, inter alia, condemns all those who ever recognize in the Christian tradition, nothing divine or interpret this tradition in the sense of pantheism so that a simple, any other historical tradition equivalent to fact remains.

Impact and reception

When Pope Pius X in 1910 the anti-modernist oath demanded, he sparked a controversy lasting for years. Liberal Protestantism, the life of Jesus research, entire schools of biblical scholarship and Darwinism were sharply rejected; who did not want to follow the Pope in it, had to limit his church activity or even adjust. Some priests were excommunicated.

Opponents saw in this oath an offensive violation of academic freedom; Advocates welcomed the profiled boundary, a " orthodox " tradition-bound theology, for example, against fads.