Liberal Catholicism
Liberal Catholicism was a current of thought within the Roman Catholic Church influenced by classical liberalism and promoting the separation of church and state, freedom of religion in the civic arena, expanded suffrage, and broad-based education. It was influential in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, especially in France. It is largely identified with French political theorists such as Felicité Robert de Lamennais, Henri Lacordaire, and Charles Forbes René de Montalembert influenced, in part, by a similar contemporaneous movement in Belgium. Being predominantly political in nature, liberal Catholicism as a movement was distinct from the contemporary theological movement of modernism. The movement is also distinct from the attitude of historical and present-day Roman Catholics who are described as theologically progressive or liberal. Elements of liberal Catholicism were repeatedly condemned by the pre-Vatican II Holy See, particularly in the encyclicals Mirari vos (1832) of Pope Gregory XVI, Quanta cura (1864) of Pope Pius IX, and the dogmatic constitution Pastor aeternus (1870) of the First Vatican Council. Definition Liberal Catholicism has been defined as "in essence a trend among sincere Catholics to exalt freedom as a primary value and to draw from this consequences in social, political, and religious life, seeking to reconcile the principles on which Christian France was founded with those that derived from the French Revolution". The phrase was used to describe the currents of thought and action that arose in the wake of Napoleon's remaking of Europe, and the restoration of traditional monarchies. History Belgium The National Congress of Belgium, an alliance between Roman Catholics and secular liberals on the basis of mutually recognized rights and freedoms, adopted in 1831 a constitution that enshrined several of the freedoms for which liberal Catholicism campaigned. The Congress Column in Brussels, erected in honour of the congress, has at its base four bronze statues that represent the four basic freedoms enshrined in the constitution: freedom of religion, freedom of association, education and freedom of the press. These four freedoms are also reflected in the names of the four streets that lead to the Place de la Liberté/Vrijheidsplein (Freedom Square) of Brussels: the Rue des Cultes/Eredienststraat (Religion Street), the Rue de l'Association/Verenigingsstraat (Association Street), the Rue de l'Enseignement/Onderrichtstraat (Education Street) and the Rue de la Presse/Drukpersstraat (Press Street). The constitution adopted almost all of Lamennais's proposals for the separation of church and state, granting the Catholic Church independence in church appointments and public activities, and almost complete supervision of Catholic education. J.P.T Bury suggests that Lamennais and his associates found inspiration in a Belgian Liberal Catholic movement centered in Malines and led by Archbishop de Méan's vicar-general, Engelbert Sterckx. Largely Catholic Belgium seceded from the Netherlands in 1830 and established a constitutional monarchy. Sterckx, who became archbishop in 1832 found a way not merely to tolerate the new liberal constitution, but to expand the Church under the new liberties guaranteed. At a noted Catholic congress in Malines, Belgium in 1863, Montalembert gave two long addresses on Catholic Liberalism,