The Catholic Church was not alarmed at the rise of fascism, as it combated Communism, which was feared greatly by the church. Prior to the unification of Italy there was no power in Italy that extended beyond a province but the Pope. The remnant of the Pope’s power was still felt in Italy, with most Italians believing in the Church and the Pope. Mussolini, as a non religious man, began with a hostile policy towards the Catholic Church.
CASE STUDY: POPE JOHN PAUL’S VISIT TO NICARAGUA 1983 During the early 1980s, the Catholic Church felt that it controlled much of the religious and political alliances throughout the world. The Catholic Church had control of a strong anti-communist approach in Europe, and because of this felt alarmed at the alliance that was forming between priests and Marxists in Latin America. The priests felt as if they were doing much like Christ would in helping the poor’s interests. Tension also brewed between the Church and the Sandinista state. The priests hoped to resolve the issue when Pope John Paul II visited Nicaragua in 1983.
He believed that the Catholic church was corrupt for selling indulgences as penance for sins in that the sale was a way for the Church to exploit the unfortunate and poor (Reformation 5). The final push for the need to change was the English reformation. During King Henry VIII’s rule in the sixteenth century, the Church of England was formed. He established the church because the Pope of the Catholic Church would not grant him a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon. The Anglican church had many similarities to the Catholic church: similar rituals and a bible titled the Book of Common Prayere (Reformation 9).
“Between 1933 and 1937, the British public’s hostility to the confrontation of foreign powers left the National Government with no alternative to a policy of appeasing Hitler and Mussolini.” – How far do you agree with this judgement? Due to the aftermath of the First World War and the oncoming threat of further war, the general public opinion was to avoid war at all costs during the time between 1933 and 1937. It was in British interests to maintain peace because of similar reasons, and because of the state of the British economy. The British public were therefore not hostile to confrontation of foreign powers, but wanted to avoid the conflict, meaning there was a strong influence on the National Government to please the general public, and appeasement was a better option than to use violence. The public opinion of wanting to be peaceful was the main reason why the National Government felt as if there was no alternative to appeasing Hitler and Mussolini.
Contemporary History February 15, 2013 Latin America and the Catholic Church Case Study Pope John Paul II’s visit to Nicaragua in the Spring of 1983 was a response to concern that there was an alliance between Marxist revolutionaries and priests that was emerging in Latin America. Despite the fact that the priests were claiming to be doing nothing but advocating the interests of the poor, the possibility of this alliance worried Pope John Paul II because the church (in Europe) had always taken an anti-communist stance (Hoyt, 1996). The reform-minded Catholics in Nicaragua became very hopeful that during his visit, the Pope would lend his support to the revolutionary cause. Although the did not expect him or the church to get behind the Marxist principles, as they were aware the Catholic Church highly disagreed with them, they did however expect the Pope to make some sort of statement of encouragement, support, and compassion to the thousands who had suffered and died, to those who were still losing loved ones to the counterrevolution, and for the families of those teen-agers, members of the Sandinista Youth Organization, who were ambushed and killed, and buried just one day prior to the Pope’s Mass (Hoyt, 1996). Before the Mass had hit its midway point however, it became very obvious to the people of Nicaragua, who had come to see the Pope for these words of support and prayer(s) of compassion that he was not going to be offering any such things to them.
The reasons behind Akehenaten’s failure and Constantine success was a matter of support of the populace. Egyptian culture rejected “Atenism”, because the populace and priesthood were left out of the equation. Constantine eased “Christianity” into society while keeping political balance in check. The Pharaoh upset the people by changing hundreds of years of tradition so suddenly, furthermore he set himself up as the only avenue of contact with the God ”Aten” leaving no one to replace him after his death. Constantine included Christianity along without alienating other religions.
If he didn’t change the religion for the best interest of England, we would have a higher crime rate and England would be destroyed. The Catholic Church went from being a place where you can find God, to a place where people are executed and go against the laws of God and humanity. Henry VIII said “The people look to you for light and you bring them darkness. Amend these crimes and set forth Gods word truly or else I, whom God has appointed his high minister, will see these divisions extinct and the enormities corrected”. The Catholic Church decided to start controlling everyone in England.
Hank is not a fan of Catholicism to say the least: “There you see the hand of that awful power, the Roman Catholic Church. In two or three little centuries it had converted a nation of men to a nation of worms” (43). Hank experiences that without title and heritage people are nothing in King Arthur’s time and he feels this is because of the church. He says that the church “invented the divine right of kings” (44). He is also proud that his knights who carry advertisements will influence people in a way that the Church cannot control: “This would undermine the Church.
In Article 10, it states, “No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.” However, Martin Luther and John Wycliffe were excommunicated for their religious views. Martin Luther and John Wycliffe questioned the Catholic churches beliefs such as people paying for their pentanence and whether people must communicate with God through priest. Martin Luther raised a question that why the church services was written in Latin only. Latin was a language studied by the upper class only and lower class people did not understand Latin that forced them to listen to the pope. Martin Luther in On Christian Freedom wrote, “For Holy Scripture makes no distinction between them, except that those who are now boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords….” He said that Pope or bishop are no different than other people.
Rome’s emperors contradicted each other many times in history, not the least of which on the topic of Christianity. ``Some of the Roman emperors persecuted the Christians and murdered them but then Constantine came around and adopted it as Rome’s religion`` (Source: Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church). The way the different emperors of Rome jumped between religions made their citizens have less faith in them and not letting the citizens not know what to belief in destroyed unity in Rome. The adoption of Christianity disconnected the falling Western Roman Empire further from the thriving Byzantine Empire (Source: history-world.org/churchseperate.htm). This is significant because the Romans could have learned a lot from the Byzantine.