A History Of The Popes 1830-1914

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Could a Pope ever consent to be the subject of a political power? Owen Chadwick presents an analysis of the causes and consequences of the end of the historic Papal State, and the psychological pressures upon old Rome as it came under attack from the Italian Risorgimento; and not only from Italy, but from liberal movements in Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal, as well as Tsarist Russia as it oppressed its Polish subjects.

If a united Italy was to be achieved, the State must disappear. These pressures caused Popes to resist 'the world' rather than to try to influence it, to make the Vatican more of a sanctuary behind high walls, and to preach the more otherworldly aspects of Catholic faith. At the same time they met new moral demands: the rights of the labourer in industry, divorce, toleration, which they could confront because the Revolution had destroyed the powers of the Catholic kings over their churches, and therefore Catholic authority could be far more centralized in Rome.

Review: Professor Chadwick writes with a sensitive empathy with the Roman Catholic mind. A well-organised index and a copious descriptive bibliography complete this magesterial and entertaining monograph. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol.52/3 Chadwick's informative study is written, as one would expect, with wit and with a sinewy elegance.

Part of his secret is his ability to blend material culled from primary and secondary sources with entertaining and revealing case studies and anecdotes. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol.52/3 The four pontificates are treated in such breadth that we have what comes to a history of eight-and-a-half decades of Roman Catholicism ...

Chadwick depicts the four pontiffs vividly. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol.52/3 compelling and compendious study Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol.52/3 the chief merit of this volume is Chadwick's balance in treating and assessing the issues in a series of dramatic confrontations and the character, strengths, and limitations of the popes and many of the other protagonists.

Joseph A. Komonchak, Theological Studies, March 00, Vol.61, No.1. quintessential Chadwick: history well researched, attentive to primary sources, covering a wide range of literature, even Italian. He contextualizes the creeping, even galloping centralism that has become characteristic of modern papal governance.

Despite his principal preoccupations with church-state issues, he also analyzes properly theological themes. Michael A. Fahey, S.J., Church History, March 2000, Vol.69, No.1. a magisterial study. Even what is modestly described as a 'select bibliography' is outstanding. Michael A. Fahey, S.J. Church History, March 2000, Vol.69, No.1.

Chadwick provides a scholarly but sympathetic picture of the popes who had confronted the problems of secularization, the impositions of nationalism and liberalism, and the loss of the temporal power. Frank J. Coppa, Jnl of Church State, Winter 2000. fair and objective in his assessment of both theological and political issues ...

Possessing vast knowledge of the facts, an unerring eye for significant detail, a ready wit, and a facile style, Chadwick reveals a mastery of the Latin, Italian, French, German, English, and Spanish sources, which are listed in the biography. Frank J. Coppa, Jnl of Church State, Winter 2000. A new volume in the Oxford History of the Christian Church, of which the brothers Chadwick are the editors, must be noteworthy, and this one is much to be welcomed ...

Professor Chadwick is a prose artist and the book is often delightful to read ... This one is something of a jewel in an already distinguished series; an interpretive study which, even if only the brightest undergraduates will get the best out of it, other scholars cannot but find stimulating and provocative.

John M Roberts, EHR, November 1999 is the most detailed English work to date in this field ... it provides essential background for anyone who wishes to understand the significant political and spiritual contributions made by the papacy in the twentieth century ...