| Pascendi Dominici gregis Latin for 'The Feedings of the Flock of the Lord' Encyclical of Pope Pius X | |
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| Signature date | 8 September 1907 |
| Subject | Modernism in the Catholic Church |
| Number | 11 of 17 of the pontificate |
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Pascendi Dominici gregis (English: Feeding the Lord's Flock) is a papal encyclical letter, subtitled "On the Doctrines of the Modernists", promulgated by Pope Pius X on 8 September 1907. [1]
Pius X viewed the church as under siege, intellectually from rationalism and materialism, politically from liberalism and anti-clericalism. The pope condemned modernism, a loose movement of Catholic biblical scholars, philosophers and theologians who believed that the church could not ignore new scientific historical research concerning the Bible. [2] Maude Petre would later recall, "We must remember, in fairness to those who were not always fair, that the impact of historical criticism on the traditional teaching of the Church was terrifying; that it seemed a case of saving the very essence of the Christian faith from destruction." [3]
Alfred Loisy held that only scientific exegesis is verifiable and therefore, reliable. Interpretation based on faith, on the other hand, "is a purely subjective". [4] This discounts entirely the value of revelation. Concerning Jesus, "In the person of Christ, they say, science and history encounter nothing that is not human. Therefore, in virtue of the first canon deduced from agnosticism, whatever there is in His history suggestive of the divine, must be rejected.". [5] The threat was seen as more severe as appearing to come from member of the ordained clergy.
Much of the encyclical was drafted by Joseph Lemius, Procurator General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, [6] and Capuchin Cardinal José Calassanç Vives y Tuto. [4] [7]
It condemned the proposition that religion is merely a sentiment based on a psychological need for the divine. [8]
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| Papal primacy, supremacy and infallibility |
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The fundamental error attributed to the modernists was that of denying the capacity of reason to know the truth, thereby reducing everything – including religion, and including Christianity – to subjective experience. Modernists rejected this interpretation, saying their focus was on historical criticism of sacred texts. [4]
Following the example of the bishops of Umbria, Pius X directed the bishops to establish councils to look into any errors being promoted in their dioceses and to inform the bishop thereof, with particular attention given to the curriculum and texts used in the seminaries and schools. It also reiterated a 1896 decree of the Congregation for Indulgences and Sacred Relics that "Ancient relics are to retain the veneration they have always enjoyed except when in individual instances there are clear arguments that they are false or suppositions.' [9] If however, the bishop knows the relic is not authentic, it is to be withdrawn from veneration, and if authentication has been lost due to civil disturbances, no relic may be presented for public veneration before the bishop has verified it. [9]
Pope Pius X was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, and for promoting liturgical reforms and scholastic theology. He initiated the preparation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive and systemic work of its kind. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. The Society of Saint Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic fraternity formed decades after his death, is named after him.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church's doctrine. It was promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 as a reference for the development of local catechisms, directed primarily to those responsible for catechesis and offered as "useful reading for all other Christian faithful". It has been translated into and published in more than twenty languages worldwide.
The Oath Against Modernism was instituted by Pope Pius X in his motu proprioSacrorum antistitum on September 1, 1910. The oath was required of "all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries" of the Catholic Church. It remained in force until the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the approval of Paul VI, replaced it with a revised Profession of Faith on July 17, 1967.
Modernism in the Catholic Church describes attempts to reconcile Catholicism with modern culture, specifically an understanding of the Bible and Catholic tradition in light of the historical-critical method and new philosophical and political developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Alfred Firmin Loisy was a French Roman Catholic priest, professor and theologian generally credited as a founder of modernism in the Roman Catholic Church. He was a critic of traditional views of the interpretation of the Bible, and argued that biblical criticism could be helpful for a theological interpretation of the Bible.
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.378 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2021. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The Diocese of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small independent city-state and enclave within the Italian capital city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.
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Providentissimus Deus, "On the Study of Holy Scripture", was an encyclical letter issued by Pope Leo XIII on 18 November 1893. In it, he reviewed the history of Bible study from the time of the Church Fathers to the present, spoke against the errors of the Rationalists and "higher critics", and outlined principles of scripture study and guidelines for how scripture was to be taught in seminaries. He also addressed the issues of apparent contradictions between the Bible and physical science, or between one part of scripture and another, and how such apparent contradictions can be resolved.
George Tyrrell was an Anglo-Irish Catholic priest and a highly controversial theologian and scholar. A convert from Anglicanism, Tyrrell joined the Jesuit order in 1880. His attempts to adapt Catholic theology to modern culture and science made him a key figure in the debate over modernism in the Catholic Church beginning in the late 19th-century. During the anti-modernist crusade led by Pope Pius X, Tyrrell was expelled from the Jesuit Order in 1906 and excommunicated in 1908.
Romano Pontifici eligendo was the apostolic constitution governing the election of popes that was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 1 October 1975. It instituted a number of far-reaching reforms in the process of electing popes. It set the maximum number of electors at 120 and restated in a more formal context the rule he had already instituted that cardinals over the age of 80 not participate in electing a pope.
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Fulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's, Rome, on 8 September 1953, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the fifteenth year of his Pontificate. The encyclical proclaims a Marian year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Mariological papal documents have been a major force that has shaped Roman Catholic Mariology over the centuries. Mariology is developed by theologians on the basis not only of Scripture and Tradition but also of the sensus fidei of the faithful as a whole, "from the bishops to the last of the faithful", and papal documents have recorded those developments, defining Marian dogmas, spreading doctrines and encouraging devotions within the Catholic Church.
Lamentabili sane exitu is a 1907 syllabus, prepared by the Roman Inquisition and confirmed by Pope Pius X, which condemns what it deems to be errors in the exegesis of Holy Scripture and in the history and interpretation of dogma.
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On the Errors of the Modernists public domain audiobook at LibriVox 
