Jeffrey N. answered • 09/18/19
Yale/Cambridge/Berkeley Graduate for Counseling and Writing
Because the Roman Catholic Church is an institution whose history spans two millennia, answering this very broad question is tricky indeed. Depending on which time period you focus on, the answer can vary dramatically.
The Roman Catholic Church, as we know it, starts when Emperor Constantine adopts Christianity as the official state religion in the fourth century AD. The Roman Empire was far from the representational system of government that we call "democratic" today. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, medieval kings and absolutist kings of the Early Modern period were believed to be "anointed" by God, and considered divinely ordained. The more closely associated they were with the Roman Catholic church, as in the Spanish Hapsburg emperor Charles V and his heirs, the kings of Spain, the more absolutist and less democratic they were. One might also link some of the twentieth century’s least democratic states to close relationships with the Catholic Church, for example Franco’s dictatorship in Spain. On the other hand, Pope Pius XII did take a bold stance against Jewish oppression at the hands of the Nazis.
Beginning with Vatican II, the Catholic Church promoted a more “democratic” system of worship with the liturgy finally being performed in the vernacular of the country, not just in Latin. The church reclaimed Christ’s command to practice social justice, which the Protestant churches had been proselytizing for years already. Vatican II rearticulated and revived the legacy of Christian social justice into the official theology, doctrine, and policy of the Church.
A shining example of the renewed Catholic Church’s commitment to democratic values is its continued support of Taiwan. Unlike most nation states, which recognize the autocratic People’s Republic of China as the “real” China, the Vatican continues to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan because of the island nation’s democratic politics and commitment to human rights.
If you look broadly at the history of the Roman Catholic Church, you will not find a good record for commitment to democratic values on the whole. However, if you study more specific moments, such as Vatican II, you will unearth more contributions to democratic ideals. There are nevertheless some moments in earlier Catholic history in which the Pope was clearly committed to democratic ideals.
An interesting example is to be found in the biography of Pope Pius IX, who was bishop of Rome during the Italian Risorgimento, or unification. He believed in liberal, democratic values, but was not willing to wage war on the Catholic Austrian empire. When the Roman Republic was founded, the Vatican was desecrated and the Papal States were plundered. Although disillusioned in the reality of the new Italian state, Pius IX was still committed to both democratic ideals and Christian values. If I were writing this paper, I would analyze this chapter of Roman Catholic history, since most students will probably write about the more modern chapter of the Church’s history, starting with Vatican II.
