Pope Gregory XVI

Head of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846

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Pope

Gregory XVI

Bishop of Rome

Portrait by Paul Delaroche, 1844

Church| Catholic Church
Papacy began| 2 February 1831
Papacy ended| 1 June 1846
Predecessor| Pius VIII
Successor| Pius IX
Previous post(s)|

* Vicar General of the Camaldolese Order (1814‍–‍1826)
* Cardinal Priest of San Callisto (1826‍–‍1831)
* Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (1826‍–‍1831)

Orders
Ordination| 1787
Consecration| 6 February 1831
by Bartolomeo Pacca
Created cardinal| 21 March 1825 (in pectore)
13 March 1826 (revealed)
by Leo XII
Personal details
Born|

Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari

(1765-09-18)18 September 1765

Belluno, Republic of Venice

Died| 1 June 1846(1846-06-01) (aged 80)
Rome, Papal States
Signature|
Coat of arms|
Other popes named Gregory

Pope Gregory XVI (Latin: Gregorius PP. XVI; Italian: Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846.[1] He had adopted the name Mauro upon entering the religious order of the Camaldolese. He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Gregory", the last to govern the Papal States for the whole duration of his pontificate, and the most recent not to have been a bishop when elected.

Reactionary in tendency, Gregory XVI opposed democratic and modernising reforms in the Papal States and throughout Europe, seeing them as fronts for liberalism and laicism. Against these trends, he sought to strengthen the religious and political authority of the papacy, a position known as ultramontanism. In the encyclical Mirari vos, he pronounced it "false and absurd, or rather mad, that we must secure and guarantee to each one liberty of conscience". He encouraged missionary activity abroad and condemned the slave trade, which at the time of his pontificate was increasingly suppressed.

## Biography

[edit]

### Early life

[edit]

Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari was born at Belluno in the Republic of Venice, on 18 September 1765, as the last of five children, to a local Italian lower noble family, notable since the 16th century, aggregated to the local Nobility Council in 1670 and traditionally linked to liberal professions but not to the consecrated life. He was baptized at the parish of Bolzano Bellunese by his uncle Antonio Capellari. His parents were from a small village named Pesariis, in Friuli. His father, Giovanni Battista Capellari, was a notary. His mother, Giulia Cesa was a daughter of a notary. At the age of eighteen, Bartolomeo Cappellari joined the order of the Camaldolese[2] (part of the Benedictine monastic family) and entered the Monastery of San Michele in Murano, near Venice. He was ordained a priest in 1787.[3] As a Camaldolese monk, Cappellari rapidly gained distinction for his theological and linguistic skills, and was assigned to teach philosophy and theology at San Michele in 1787, at the age of 22.

In 1790, at the age of 25, he was appointed censor librorum for his Order, as well as for the Holy Office at Venice.[3] He went to Rome in 1795 and in 1799 published a polemic against the Italian Jansenists titled II Trionfo della Santa Sede ("The Triumph of the Holy See"),[4][5] which passed through various editions in Italy and was translated into several European languages. In 1800, he became a member of the Academy of the Catholic Religion, founded by Pope Pius VII (1800–1823), to which he contributed memoirs on theological and philosophical questions. In 1805, at the age of 40, he was appointed abbot of the Monastery of San Gregorio on Rome's Caelian Hill.[6]

When the army of the French Emperor Napoleon took Rome and arrested and deported Pius VII to France in 1809, Cappellari fled to Murano, where he taught in the Monastery of St. Michele of his Order, where he had first become a monk. From there he and a group of monks moved their little college to Padua in 1814. After Napoleon's final defeat, the Congress of Vienna re-established the sovereignty of the Papal States over central Italy and Cappellari was called back to Rome to assume the post of vicar general of the Camaldolese Order. He was then appointed as Counsellor to the Inquisition, and later promoted to be Consultor (29 February 1820) and then, on 1 October 1826, Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide ("Propagation of the Faith"),[6] which dealt with all missionary work outside of the Spanish Empire, including missions to the non-Catholic states in Europe.[7] Twice he was offered a bishopric and twice he refused.[3]

### Cardinal

[edit]

"The Grand Gala Berlin" is a luxury carriage constructed in Rome during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is the work of two pontiffs: Leo XII, who called for it to be produced in 1824–1826, and Gregory XVI, who requested some important modifications.

On 21 March 1825, Cappellari was created cardinal in pectore (published 13 March 1826) by Pope Leo XII,[8] and shortly afterwards he was asked to negotiate a concordat to safeguard the rights of Catholics in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a diplomatic task which he completed successfully. He also negotiated a peace on behalf of Armenian Catholics with the Ottoman Empire. He publicly condemned the Polish revolutionaries, who he thought were seeking to undermine Russian Tsar Nicholas I's efforts to support the Catholic royalist cause in France by forcing him to divert his troops to suppress the uprising in Poland.[9]

Cappellari had never travelled outside Italy and was most familiar with Venice and Rome. He spoke Italian and Latin fluently, but no other European languages, and did not understand European politics.[10] However, he was proficient in Armenian, and Haruti'iwn Awgerian (Pascal Aucher)'s 1827 Venice edition of works attributed to Severian of Gabala and translated into Armenian was dedicated to him.

## Pontificate

[edit]

### Papal election

[edit]

Main article: Papal conclave, 1830–31

Coin of Pope Gregory XVI, 1834 Papal styles of
Pope Gregory XVI

Reference style| His Holiness
Spoken style| Your Holiness
Religious style| Holy Father
Posthumous style| None

On 2 February 1831, after a fifty-day conclave, Cappellari was unexpectedly chosen to succeed Pope Pius VIII (1829–30). His election was influenced by the fact that the cardinal considered the most papabile, Giacomo Giustiniani, was vetoed by King Ferdinand VII of Spain.[3] There then arose a deadlock between the other two major candidates, Emmanuele de Gregorio and Bartolomeo Pacca. What finally drove the cardinals to make a decision was a message from the government of Parma notifying them that revolt was about to break out in the northern Papal States.[10] To resolve the impasse, the cardinals turned to Cappellari, but it took eighty-three ballots for the canonically required two-thirds majority to be reached.[11]

At the time of election, Cardinal Cappellari was not yet a bishop; he is the most recent man to be elected pope prior to his episcopal consecration. He was consecrated as bishop by Bartolomeo Pacca, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals,[6] with Pietro Francesco Galleffi, Cardinal Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina and sub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, and Tommasso Arezzo, Cardinal Bishop of Sabina, acting as co-consecrators.

The choice of Gregory XVI as his regnal name was influenced by the fact that he had been abbot of the Monastery of San Gregorio on the Coelian Hill for more than twenty years, and in honour of Gregory XV, the founder of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.[3] The Monastery of San Gregorio was the same abbey from which Pope Gregory I had dispatched missionaries to England in 596.

### Actions

[edit]

Pope Gregory XVI leading a Eucharistic procession. Painting by Ferdinando Cavalleri (1840)

The revolution of 1830, which overthrew the House of Bourbon, had just inflicted a severe blow on the Catholic royalist party in France. Almost the first act of the new French government was to seize Ancona, thus throwing Italy, and particularly the Papal States, into a state of confusion and political upheaval. Gregory issued a proclamation on 9 February 1831, one week after his election, expressing good will towards his subjects.[12] In the course of the struggle that ensued, the Pope found it necessary more than once to call in Austrian troops to fight the red-shirted republicans engaged in a guerrilla campaign.[13] The conservative administration of the Papal States postponed their promised reforms after a series of bombings and assassination attempts. The replacement of Tommaso Bernetti by Luigi Lambruschini as Cardinal Secretary of State in 1836 did nothing to appease the situation.

In the northern territories, the leaders of the revolt were middle-class gentry opposed to the general inefficiency of the government.[10]

### Governance of the papal states

[edit]

Pope Gregory XVI visiting the Church of San Benedetto at Subiaco, Lazio. Painting by Jean-François Montessuy (1843)

Gregory XVI and Cardinal Lambruschini opposed basic technological innovations such as gas lighting and railways,[13] believing that they would promote commerce and increase the power of the bourgeoisie, leading to demands for liberal reforms which would undermine the monarchical power of the Pope over central Italy. Gregory XVI in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling them chemins d'enfer ("road to hell", a play on the French for railroad, chemin de fer, literally "iron road").[14]

The insurrections at Viterbo in 1836, in various parts of the Legations in 1840, at Ravenna in 1843 and at Rimini in 1845, were followed by wholesale executions and draconian sentences of hard labour and exile, but they did not bring the unrest within the Papal States under the control of the authorities. Gregory XVI made great expenditures for defensive, architectural and engineering works, having a monument to Pope Leo XII built by Giuseppe Fabris in 1837.[13] He also lavished patronage on such scholars as Angelo Mai, Giuseppe Mezzofanti, and Gaetano Moroni. This largesse, however, significantly weakened the finances of the Papal States.

Monument to Gregory XVI in Saint Peter's Basilica

### Other activities

[edit]

#### Encyclicals

[edit]

Main article: List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI

Other important encyclicals issued by Pope Gregory XVI were Sollicitudo ecclesiarum, which stated that in the event of a change of government, the church would negotiate with the new government for placement of bishops and vacant dioceses (issued 1831);[15] Mirari Vos, on liberalism and religious indifferentism (issued on 15 August 1832); Quo graviora, on the Pragmatic Constitution in the Rhineland (issued on 4 October 1833); Singulari Nos, on the ideas of Hugues Félicité Robert de Lamennais (issued on 25 June 1834), and Commissum divinitus (17 May 1835) on church and state.[16]

#### Apostolic letters

[edit]

In supremo apostolatus, an apostolic letter or papal bull, was issued by Pope Gregory XVI regarding the institution of slavery. Issued on 3 December 1839, as a result of a broad consultation among the College of Cardinals, the bull resoundingly denounced both the slave trade and the continuance of the institution of slavery.[17][18][19][20]

#### Canonizations and beatifications

[edit]

Gregory XVI canonized Veronica Giuliani, an Italian mystic, during his papacy. During his reign, five saints were canonized (notably Alphonsus Liguori) and thirty-three Servants of God were declared Blessed (including the Augustinian Simon of Cascia). In addition, many new religious orders were founded or supported and the devotion of the faithful to the Blessed Virgin Mary increased, both in private and public life.[3]

#### Consistories

[edit]

Main article: Cardinals created by Gregory XVI

The pope created 75 cardinals in 24 consistories, in which the pope elevated 35 cardinals "in pectore", including his future successor Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, who would become Pope Pius IX. The pope also created six additional cardinals in pectore, though the pope died before these names could be revealed, therefore cancelling their appointments to the cardinalate.

In 1836, the pope wanted to nominate Charles Joseph Benoît Mercy d'Argenteau to the College of Cardinals, but the archbishop refused the nomination because he did not wish to leave his family and home for a possible position in the Roman Curia. Gregory XVI nominated four in pectore cardinals on 21 April 1845 and one on 24 November 1845; Gregory XVI also named another in pectore cardinal in the 12 July 1841 consistory, never revealing his name. According to Philippe Boutry, Alerame Maria Pallavicini (the Master of the Sacred Palace) was the in pectore cardinal announced on 24 November 1845; however, Pope Pius IX refused to publish his name upon his ascension to the papacy less than a year later.[21]

### Death and burial

[edit]

On 20 May 1846, he felt himself failing in health. A few days later, he was taken ill with facial erysipelas. At first, the attack was not thought to be very serious, but on 31 May, his strength suddenly failed, and it was seen that the end was near.[3]

Gregory XVI died at 9:15 am on 1 June 1846 at age 80. That morning, he received the Extreme Unction from the sub-sacristan Agostino Proja. After his funeral, he was buried in Saint Peter's Basilica.[22]

## See also

[edit]

* Cardinals created by Gregory XVI
* List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI
* 1832 Rothschild loan to the Holy See
* Ludovico Morbioli
* List of popes

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Pham 2004, p. 187.
2. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 336.
3. ^ a b c d e f g Toke, Leslie. "Pope Gregory XVI". The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 November 2015
4. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 337.
5. ^ Gregory XVI (Mauro Cappellari) (1832). Il trionfo della Santa Sede e della Chiesa: contro gli assalti dei novatori combattuti e respinti colle stesse loro armi (in Italian). Venice: G. Battaggia.
6. ^ a b c Pham 2004, p. 322.
7. ^ Salvador Miranda, "Biographical notes on Mauro Cappellari". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
8. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 335.
9. ^ "Pope Gregory XVI to Bring about a Decision" (PDF). C Korten. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
10. ^ a b c Chadwick, Owen (2003). A History of the Popes, 1830–1914. Oxford University Press. p. 31\. ISBN 978-0199262861.
11. ^ J. P. Adams, Sede Vacante 1830–1831.. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
12. ^ Pope Gregory XVI, Proclama: Chiamati Dalla Divina, in Italian, published on 9 February 1831, accessed on 22 August 2024
13. ^ a b c McBrien 2000, p. 276.
14. ^ Pham 2004, pp. 20–21.
15. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 339.
16. ^ Pope Gregory XVI. Commissum divinitus, May 17, 1835, Papal Encyclicals Online
17. ^ "Pope Gregory XVI 3 December 1839 Condemning Slave Trade". Retrieved 16 February 2010.
18. ^ Gillis, Chester (1999). Roman Catholicism in America. Columbia University Press. p. 58\. ISBN 978-0-231-10871-3.
19. ^ Diène, Doudou (August 2001). From chains to bonds. Berghahn Books. p. 271\. ISBN 978-1-57181-266-7.
20. ^ "In supremo apostolatus". Papalencyclicals.net. 3 December 1839. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
21. ^ Salvador Miranda. "Gregory XVI (1831–1846)". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
22. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia

## Sources

[edit]

* Petruccelli della Gattina, Ferdinando (1861). Storia arcana del pontificato di Leone XII, Gregorio XVIe Pio IX ossia preliminari della questione romana di E. About con documenti diplomatici per F. Petruccelli de la Gattina (in Italian). Milan: Francesco Colombo. (critical)
* Sylvain, Charles (1889). Grégoire XVI. et son pontificat. Paris: Desclée et de Brouwer.
* Nielsen, Fredrik Kristian (1906). "Chapter XVI: Gregory XVI". The History of the Papacy in the Nineteenth Century: Leo XII to Pius IX. Vol. II. London: J. Murray. pp. 51–101.
* Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley, George (1932). "Chapters VII, VIII, IX". Italy in the Making: 1815 to 1846. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 90–138\. ISBN 978-0-521-07427-8. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
* Ernesto Vercesi (1936). Tre pontificati: Leone XII, Pio VIII, Gregorio XVI (in Italian). Torino: Soc. editrice internazionale.
* Schmidlin, Joseph (1940). Léon XII, Pie VIII et Grégoire XVI, 1823–1846 (in French). Vitte.
* Koenig, Duane. “BACKDROP TO REVOLUTION—THE REIGN OF POPE GREGORY XVI.” Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 9, no. 2 (1946): 131–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24313351.
* Korten, Christopher. “DEFINING MOMENTS: THE REASONS MAURO CAPPELLARI BECAME POPE GREGORY XVI.” Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 47 (2009): 17–39. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23565183.
* Korten, Christopher. “Against the Grain: Pope Gregory XVI’s Optimism Toward Russia in His Censure of Polish Clerics in 1831.” The Catholic Historical Review 101, no. 2 (2015): 292–316. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43900025.
* Korten, Christopher. “‘Il Trionfo?’ The Untold Story of Its Development and Pope Gregory XVI's Struggle to Attain Orthodoxy.” The Harvard Theological Review 109, no. 2 (2016): 278–301. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43948562.
* Korten, Christopher. “Pope Gregory XVI’s Chocolate Enterprise: How Some Italian Clerics Survived Financially During the Napoleonic Era.” Church History 86, no. 1 (2017): 63–85. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26292211.
* Quinn, John F. “‘Three Cheers for the Abolitionist Pope!’: American Reaction to Gregory XVI's Condemnation of the Slave Trade, 1840–1860.” The Catholic Historical Review 90, no. 1 (2004): 67–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25026521.
* Reinerman, Alan J. “Metternich, Pope Gregory XVI, and Revolutionary Poland, 1831-1842.” The Catholic Historical Review 86, no. 4 (2000): 603–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25025819.
* Lefebvre, C., ed. (1948). Gregorio XVI. Vol. Parte seconda. Rome: Pontificia Universita Gregorian. ISBN 978-88-7652-439-4. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) (laudatory)
* Stogre, Michael (1992). "Chapter Two". That the World May Believe: The Development of Papal Social Thought on Aboriginal Rights. Sherbrooke, Ontario CA: Médiaspaul. pp. 47–124\. ISBN 978-2-89039-549-7.
* McBrien, Richard P. (2000). Lives of the Popes. HarperCollins.
* Viaene, Vincent (2001). Belgium and the Holy See from Gregory XVI to Pius IX (1831–1859): Catholic Revival, Society and Politics in 19th-century Europe. Louvain: Leuven University Press. ISBN 978-90-5867-138-7.
* Pham, John-Peter (2004). Heirs of the Fisherman. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517834-0.
* Regoli, Roberto, "Gregorio XVI: una ricerca historiografica," Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 44 (2006), pp. 141–171. (laudatory)
* Curran, Charles E., ed. (2003). "5. Reflections on Slavery; 6. The Correction of Common Catholic Teaching". Change in Official Catholic Moral Teachings. Readings in Moral Theology, no. 13. New York/Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press. pp. 65–79\. ISBN 978-0-8091-4134-0.
* Chadwick, Owen (2003). "Chapter 1". A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–61\. ISBN 978-0-19-926286-1.
* Francesca Longo; Claudia Zaccagnini; Fabrizio Fabbrini (2008). Gregorio XVI promotore delle arti e della cultura (in Italian). Ospedaletto (Pisa): Pacini. ISBN 978-88-7781-950-5. (laudatory)
* von Wurzbach, Constantin (1857). "Cappellari, Bartholomäus Albert". Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich (in German). Vol. 2\. Vienna: Verlag der typografisch-literarisch-artistischen Anstalt (L. C. Zamarski, C. Dittmarsch & Comp.). p. 275.
* Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "Gregor XVI". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 2\. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 327–330. ISBN 3-88309-032-8.
* Giacomo Martina: Gregorio XVI. In: Massimo Bray (ed.): Enciclopedia dei Papi. Volume 3: Innocenzo VIII, Giovanni Paolo II. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2000 (treccani.it)
* Martina, Giacomo (2002). "Gregorio XVI, papa". In Caravale, Mario (ed.). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI) (in Italian). Vol. 59\. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
* Literature by and about Pope Gregory XVI in the German National Library catalogue

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Gregorius XVI at Wikimedia Commons
* Works by or about Gregory XVI at Wikisource
* Quotations related to Pope Gregory XVI at Wikiquote

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* Islamic conquests
* Pope Gregory I
* Papal States
* Schism (1054)
* Investiture Controversy
* Crusades
* Schism (1378)
* Inquisition
* Universities
* Scholasticism
* Age of Discovery

Modern era|

* Protestantism
* Protestant Reformation
* Catholic Reformation
* Trent
* Thirty Years' War
* Enlightenment
* French Revolution
* Nazism
* Vatican II
* Communism
* Sexual abuse scandal
* Islam
* COVID-19 pandemic

Theology
Bible
Tradition
Catechism|

| General|

* God
* Trinity
* Kingdom
* Body
* Divine grace
* Dogma
* Nicene Creed
* Original sin
* Saints
* Salvation
* Sermon on the Mount
* Ten Commandments
* Vulgate
* Official Bible
* Sixtine Vulgate
* Sixto-Clementine Vulgate
* Nova Vulgata
* Worship

|

Ecclesiology|

* Communitas perfecta
* Councils
* Ecumenism
* Four marks
* One true church
* Catholic
* Infallibility
* Mystici Corporis Christi
* People of God
* Three states
* Subsistit in
* In canon law

Sacraments|

* Baptism
* Confirmation
* Eucharist
* Penance
* Anointing of the Sick
* Last rites
* Holy orders
* Matrimony

Mariology|

* Assumption
* History
* Immaculate Conception
* Mariology of the popes
* Mariology of the saints
* Mother of God
* Perpetual virginity
* Veneration
* See also:
* Josephology

Philosophy|

* Natural law
* Moral theology
* Personalism
* Social teaching
* Philosophers
* Philosophy of canon law
* See also:
* Science
* Evolution
* Separation of church and state
* Relations
* Politics

Saints|

* Holy Family
* Mary
* Joseph
* Patriarchs
* Prophets
* Archangels
* Martyrs
* Doctors of the Church
* Evangelists
* Confessors
* Disciples
* Virgins

Organisation
Hierarchy
Canon law
Laity
Precedence
By country|

| Holy See
(List of popes)|

* Pope Leo XIV
* Ecumenical councils
* College of Cardinals
* List
* Advisers
* Roman Curia
* Dicasteries
* Synod of Bishops
* Properties

|

Vatican City|

* Index
* Outline
* Apostolic Palace
* Lateran Treaty
* Roman Rota
* St. Peter's Basilica
* Swiss Guard
* Vatican Museums

Polity (Holy orders)|

* Diocese
* Episcopal conference
* Eparchy
* Bishop
* Patriarch
* Major
* Primate
* Metropolitan
* Archbishop
* Diocesan
* Coadjutor
* Auxiliary
* Titular
* Emeritus
* Parish
* Priest
* Deacon

Consecrated life|

* Religious:
* Superior
* Abbot, Abbess
* General
* Provincial
* Prior, Prioress
* Grand master
* Brother
* Friar
* Monk
* Sister
* Nun
* Hermit
* Novice
* Master
* Oblate
* Postulant

Particular churches
sui iuris|

* Latin Church
* Eastern Catholic Churches
* Albanian
* Armenian
* Belarusian
* Bulgarian
* Chaldean
* Coptic
* Croatian and Serbian
* Eritrean
* Ethiopian
* Georgian
* Greek
* Hungarian
* Italo-Albanian
* Macedonian
* Maronite
* Melkite
* Romanian
* Russian
* Ruthenian
* Slovak
* Syriac
* Syro-Malabar
* Syro-Malankara
* Ukrainian

Catholic liturgy|

* Eastern Catholic liturgy
* Alexandrian
* Antiochian
* Armenian
* Byzantine
* East Syriac
* West Syriac
* Malankara
* Latin
* Ambrosian
* Braga
* Mozarabic
* Roman
* Paul VI
* Tridentine
* Anglican
* Zaire

Culture|

* Art
* Marian
* Artists
* Writers
* Church buildings
* Altarpieces
* Folk
* Library
* Museums
* Music
* Distinctions
* Role in civilisation
* See also:
* Criticism of the Catholic Church
* Anti-Catholicism

Media|

* Holy See Press Office
* Vatican Media
* Vatican News
* Vatican Television Center
* Vatican Radio
* Vatican Press [it]
* L'Osservatore Romano
* Acta Apostolicae Sedis
* Annuario Pontificio

Religious orders,
institutes, societies|

* Assumptionists
* Annonciades
* Augustinians
* Basilians
* Benedictines
* Bethlehemites
* Blue nuns
* Camaldoleses
* Camillians
* Carmelites
* Carthusians
* Cistercians
* Clarisses
* Conceptionists
* Crosiers
* Dominicans
* Franciscans
* Good Shepherd Sisters
* Hieronymites
* Jesuits
* Legionaries
* Mercedarians
* Minims
* Olivetans
* Oratorians
* Piarists
* Premonstratensians
* Redemptoristines
* Servites
* Theatines
* Trappists
* Trinitarians
* Visitandines

Associations
of the faithful|

* Confraternities
* Lay
* Marian
* Youth
* Workers
* Third orders
* Saint Dominic
* Lay Carmelites
* Discalced
* Saint Francis
* Secular
* Military orders
* Fimcap
* Catholic Action
* Charismatic Renewal
* Communion and Liberation
* Sant'Egidio
* Focolare
* International Alliance of Catholic Knights
* Scouting
* Legion of Mary
* Neocatechumenal Way
* Opus Dei
* Schoenstatt

Charities|

* Aid to the Church in Need
* Caritas
* Catholic Charities USA
* Home Missions
* Relief Services
* CIDSE
* Pax Christi
* Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

* See also:
* Health care
* Schools
* Universities

* Catholic Church portal
* Category

* v
* t
* e

History of the Catholic Church

General|

* History of the Catholic Church
* By country or region
* Ecclesiastical history
* Timeline
* Papacy
* Papal primacy
* Catholic ecumenical councils
* First seven
* Catholic Bible
* Biblical canon
* Vulgate
* Crusading movement
* History of the Roman Curia
* Religious institutes
* Christian monasticism
* Catholic culture
* Art
* Role in civilization
* Vatican City
* Papal States
* Latin Church
* Eastern Catholic Churches

Early Church
(30–325/476)|

| Origins and
Apostolic Age (30–100)|

* Jesus
* Ministry
* Crucifixion
* Resurrection
* Great Commission
* Holy Spirit
* Mary
* John the Baptist
* Apostles in the New Testament
* Commissioning
* Peter
* John
* Paul
* Stephen
* Council of Jerusalem
* Split with Judaism
* New Testament
* Background
* Gospels
* Acts
* Pauline epistles
* General epistles
* Revelation

|

Ante-Nicene period (100–325)|

* Persecution
* Church Fathers
* Apostolic Fathers
* Pope Clement I
* Polycarp
* Ignatius
* Irenaeus
* Justin Martyr
* Canon
* Tertullian
* Origen

Late antiquity
(313–476)|

| Great Church
(180–451)
Roman
state church
(380–451)|

* Constantine the Great
* Christianity
* Arian controversy
* Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
* Old St. Peter's Basilica
* First Council of Nicaea
* Pope Sylvester I
* First Council of Constantinople
* Biblical canon
* Jerome
* Vulgate
* Council of Ephesus
* Council of Chalcedon

|

Early Middle Ages|

* Benedict of Nursia
* Monasticism
* Second Council of Constantinople
* Pope Gregory I
* Gregorian chant
* Third Council of Constantinople
* Saint Boniface
* Byzantine Iconoclasm
* Second Council of Nicaea
* Charlemagne
* Pope Leo III
* Fourth Council of Constantinople
* East–West Schism

High Middle Ages|

* Pope Urban II
* Investiture Controversy
* Clash against the empire
* Crusades
* Universities
* Scholasticism
* First Council of the Lateran
* Second Council of the Lateran
* Third Council of the Lateran
* Pope Innocent III
* Latin Empire
* Francis of Assisi
* Fourth Council of the Lateran
* Inquisition
* First Council of Lyon
* Second Council of Lyon
* Bernard of Clairvaux

Late Middle Ages|

* Thomas Aquinas
* Pope Boniface VIII
* Western Schism
* Avignon Papacy
* Pope Clement V
* Council of Vienne
* Knights Templar
* Catherine of Siena
* Pope Alexander VI
* Age of Discovery

Protestant Reformation
Counter-Reformation

* Protestant Reformation
* Catholic Counter-Reformation
* Exsurge Domine
* Dissolution of the monasteries
* Council of Trent
* Thomas More
* Pope Leo X
* Society of Jesus
* Ignatius of Loyola
* Francis Xavier
* Pope Pius V
* Tridentine Mass
* Teresa of Ávila
* John of the Cross
* Peter Canisius
* Philip Neri
* Robert Bellarmine
* European wars of religion
* Thirty Years' War

Baroque period to the
French Revolution

* Pope Innocent XI
* Pope Benedict XIV
* Suppression of the Society of Jesus
* Age of Enlightenment
* Anti-clericalism
* Pope Pius VI
* Shimabara Rebellion
* Edict of Nantes
* Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution

19th century|

* Pope Pius VII
* Pope Pius IX
* United States
* Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
* Our Lady of La Salette
* Our Lady of Lourdes
* First Vatican Council
* Papal infallibility
* Pope Leo XIII
* Mary of the Divine Heart
* Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart
* Rerum novarum

20th century|

* Pope Pius X
* Our Lady of Fátima
* Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII
* Pope Pius XII
* Pope Pius XII 1942 consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
* Dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
* Lateran Treaty
* Nazi Germany
* Mit brennender Sorge
* Pope John XXIII
* Pacem in terris
* Second Vatican Council
* Ecumenism
* Judaism
* Pope Paul VI (coronation)
* Pope John Paul I
* Mother Teresa
* USSR
* Pope John Paul II
* HIV/AIDS
* World Youth Day
* 1995

21st century|

* Sexual abuse scandal
* Islam
* World Youth Day
* 2000
* 2002
* 2005
* 2008
* 2011
* 2013
* 2016
* 2019
* 2023
* Pope Benedict XVI
* Pope Francis
* Laudato si'
* Patriarch Kirill
* COVID-19 pandemic
* Pope Leo XIV

* Vatican City portal
* Catholicism portal

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Italy
* Australia
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Croatia
* Greece
* Sweden
* Poland
* Vatican
* Israel
* Catalonia
* Belgium

Artists|

* ULAN

People|

* Trove
* Italian People
* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC
* Te Papa (New Zealand)
* RISM
* Yale LUX

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