As part of the requirements for my History class up at McCormick, I needed to attend some sort of academic lecture and write a critical reflection on the event. Because I live so far away from Chicago I didn't want to make a special trip just to go listen to some lecture that I might not even like. Fortunately, Saint Joseph's College, the college where I work, has a theological lecture series in place. I decided to go to yesterday's lecture entitled:
The 'Holy Island' or Modern Idol?: Papal Rome as Paradise Lost and Regained by
Dr. Peter D'Agostino Assistant Professor of History from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dr. D'Agostino talked about the time period from when the Pope lost his kingdom of the
Papal States (1849) to the re-establishment of a physical kingdom (the Holy See: 1929) for the Pope to rule as a prince. Now, Dr. D'Agostino is a history professor and it showed in his lecture. This was definitely all about history with one theological question at the end left for the audience to discuss.
The short version:
Around the late 1840's in Italy there was great civil unrest. New movements in Italy were working to unify Italy under a single government. This movement resulted in the overthrowing of the kingdom of the papacy. The papacy did not accept this de-thronement and the current pope made himself a self-proclaimed prisoner within the Vatican after being forced out of the royal palace in Rome. From that point on the papacy did everything in its power to usurp the democratic system that was being established within Italy to regain control of the Papal States. Even threatening to excommunicate Catholics that participated in Italy's democratic system.
This intense desire to re-establish a Papal kingdom within Italy lead to a papal aligning with the fascist government being established by the notorious atheist Benito Mussolini. Dr. D'Agostino noted that is was the Italian form of fascism before World War II of which he was speaking. Mussolini killed many people to establish his government and all the while the Papacy as well as many Catholics around the world (especially those in America) supported his government because he promised to return sovereignty to the Papacy (hmm, one issue discernment?).
Mussolini fulfilled his promise to the Pope and signed a treaty with the papacy on February 11, 1929. This treaty established the Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican City (Holy See) as sovereign entities. The treaty also granted the establishment of Catholicism as the official religion of Italy, as well as financial retributions for its losses in the 1870s. Other things on the state's side were gained. Many clergy at this time were required to swear alliance to the state governing officials was one of the major issues brought up by the lecturer.
In his conclusion Dr. D'Agostino started to question the motives of the papacy in trying to re-establish a physical kingdom for the pope and whether or not a papal kingdom had become and idol for the church during this time. (Translation: had the pope become like a whining child and started throwing a tantrum over his lost kingdom?) He didn't offer any answer to his questions so I can only guess what they might have been.
It was a fairly dull lecture but had some good history content. I give it an A-/B+
Michel Foucault. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
Wayne A. Meeks. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul.
Michel Foucault. The History of Sexuality Vol. 3: The Care of the Self.
Presbyterian Church (USA). Book of Common Worship.
