After fleshing out the tactics of the Modernists, Pope St. Pius X outlines a plan of attack for his papacy to combat Modernists. He acknowledges that Pope Leo XIII had fought Modernists, but the Modernists were able to twist the words of the Pontiff and convince others that he really was talking about others, not themselves. But St. Pius X realizes that more efficacious measures are needed. He implores all bishops, pastors of souls, educators and professors of clerics, and in a very special way the superiors of religious communities to help him in taking the following actions:

After spelling out the causes of Modernism, Pope St. Pius X tackles the tactics of Modernists. He lumps them under two umbrellas: removing obstacles that prevent them from deluding the minds of men, and patiently applying every resource at their disposal. Removing Obstacles There are three large obstacles upon which Modernists wage unrelenting war: the scholastic method of philosophy the authority and tradition of the Church Fathers the magisterium of the Church Scholastic Philosophy Pius X has already mentioned in passing that by abandoning Scholasticism Modernists have left themselves without the tools to defend themselves from ignorance and intellectual error.

Moral Causes With an eye to coming up with a suitable remedy for Modernism, Pius X takes up its causes in §40 of Pascendi. He lists three moral causes: one proximate, and two remote. In a series of causal events, where one thing causes the next, the proximate cause is the cause right before the final thing in the chain. So whatever else in the causal chain leads up to Modernism, the nearest and most immediate cause of Modernism is an error of the mind.

After defining Modernism as the synthesis of all heresies, Pope St. Pius X turns to discussion of how the agnosticism of the Modernist philosophy leads to atheism. Agnosticism bars man from approaching God through the intellect. Remember, it says that God is completely unknowable from reason. Instead, it proposes that a better way of approaching God is through “a certain sense of the soul and action”. But in reality (not in Modernism), the sense of the soul is the soul’s response to what the intellect or the senses set before it.

The first thing that Pope Saint Pius X discusses after laying out the seven personalities of Modernists is to reiterate that Modernism is not a bunch of “scattered and unconnected theories”, but is a complete and integrated system. (§39) When you admit but one principle of Modernism, you cannot help but admit all of the Modernist principles. It is in this section that Pius famously defines Modernism to be “the synthesis of all heresies.

The last personality of the Modernist is the Reformer. Pope St. Pius X spends only one section on this personality, and it is basically just a list of everything that the Modernists want to reform: Philosophy, especially in the seminaries Scholastic philosophy ought to be abandoned as too absolutist, in contrast to modern philosophy which is better suited to the times. Theology Rational theology should be based on modern philosophy, and postive theology on the history of dogma.

An apologist for the Church defends Her and Her faith from all who would argue against them. Over the centuries, many sound arguments have been advanced by Catholics to aid in this defense. The Modernist apologist does not use traditional arguments from reliable sources, but instead bases his defense upon the history produced by Modernist historians. He uses two types of arguments: objective and subjective. Objective Approach The objective approach to Modernist apologetics starts from (you guessed it) agnosticism.

The Modernist critic synthesizes Modernist history and philosophy to produce his criticism, which ends up butchering Scripture. The critic starts by taking his data from the Modernist historian. (§31) Whatever is left after the historian has made his mark is considered real history; whatever has been explained away is considered the history of faith. So, continuing with the focus on Christ, the critic distinguishes between the Christ who lived in a particular time and place (considered real) and the Christ of faith, who comes from pious meditations of the believer (such a critic would consider the Gospel of St.

The Modernist historian does not want to be seen as a philosopher. They want their historical practice to appear objective, untainted by a philosophy. But their historical practice is full of their philosophy, and “their historico-critical conclusions are the natural outcome of their philosophical principles.” (§30) Like the philosopher, the historian starts with agnosticism. Agnosticism means that the Modernist historian removes God from being an actor in history. History deals entirely in phenomena, just like science.

Since theologians talk of faith, Pope St. Pius takes §§21-28 to delve deeper into topics related to faith. Dogma Dogma has been discussed earlier in the encyclical. First the Modernist believer has religious impulses. These impulses prompt secondary reflections that eventually evolve into dogma. Theological speculation, while not itself Modernist dogma, can help “harmonize religion to science” and “defend religion from without” (§21). Worship Modernists view sacraments as the result of “inner impulses”.

The portion of Pascendi expounding upon the Modernist theologian is by far the longest and most involved section. It can be roughly divided into two parts. The first spells out the foundational concepts on which Modernist theology is built. The second speaks on other, non-foundational topics of Modernist faith. In the interests of length, this post focuses on just the foundational concepts. Foundational Concepts Modernist theology is built around three concepts: theological immanence, theological symbolism, and divine permanence.

There is a contradiction between the Modernist philosopher and the Modernist believer. The believer thinks that the divine is something external, outside of himself. The philosopher thinks that the divine is completely internal to the believer, and does not exist outside of the believer. The believer concludes that the divine is external and real on the basis of personal religious experiences. The Modernist would claim that if one does not have these personal religious experiences, one is not a believer.

The Modernist philosopher begins with Agnosticism. Many people think that agnosticism is simply acknowledging that one does not know whether or not God exists. But in the Modernist system, agnosticism is a denial that anyone can even know whether God exists. All we can reason about is phenomena: things that appear to us, and the way they appear to us. Since the existence of God is not a phenomena, we can’t reason about it.

In Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Pope St. Pius X aims to show that Modernism is “the synthesis of all heresies”. It is not just a scattered bunch of heresies here and there, but rather a coherent program on the march to destroy the Catholic faith. But on the surface Modernism appears to be a mess of unrelated tactics. It is not exactly easy to see how it is organized and coherent.

Below, please find a series of posts on this site on the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis of Pope St. Pius X. Bookmark this page as a reference for this study of the encyclical. If you want to be notified of new posts on this site, subscribe to the RSS feed. Introduction Subvert the Faith With This One Weird Worldview Modernist Personalities The Seven Personalities of Modernists - a brief overview of the Modernist system.

One of the more striking things I’ve come across reading Pascendi Dominici Gregis is the tone. Pope St. Pius X writes many words, and he minces not a one of them. But we have not yet come to the end of their philosophy, or, to speak more accurately, their folly. (par. 8) By most measures, that is a sick burn! Blind that they are, and leaders of the blind, inflated with a boastful science, they have reached that pitch of folly where they pervert the eternal concept of truth and the true nature of the religious sentiment; (par.

Modernism is a silent killer of souls. The problem with modernism is that unless one has been trained in where to look for it, it is fiendishly difficult to notice. Its effects are obvious: religious indifferentism seemingly constant change in religious practice loss of faith Modernism’s practices, how it produces these effects, are much more obscured. A modernist does not write articles titled “Subvert The Catholic Faith With This One Weird Worldview”.