Why the Catholic Church Feared Modernity

Yes, I AM a lot of fun at parties. Special thanks to ‪@thebyzantinescotist7081‬ for reviewing an early version of the script, and providing useful feedback. Appreciation is also due David Kertzer, Ambrogio Caiani, and Ari Joskowicz for graciously responding to emails. ‪@shamelesspopery‬ and ‪@Erick_Ybarra‬ for the book and channel recommendations in the video regarding the theology behind the papacy. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 02:45 Key Points in the Video 04:17 Professor Nirenberg explains Anti-Judaism 07:11 Theodosian Code 08:15 Sicut Judaeis 09:44 Rebecca Rist on Pauline-Augustinian Line 10:55 Fourth Lateran Council and Dress 11:38 Innocent III and Sicut Judaeis 12:08 'Perfidious' Description 13:28 Concluding thoughts on Middle Ages 14:38 Roman Ghetto 21:49 Background Information for Restoration Period 26:46 1815 and the Restoration 35:25 Germany Prior to Kulturkampf 38:25 Poland Revolution of 1830 43:24 Ireland 44:39 Baptism as Patriotism 45:44 Slavery 48:06 Back to Rome 50:35 Austria-Italy Tensions 1848 55:45 Count Cavour and Post-1850 58:14 Syllabus of Errors 1:00:54 Cardinal Henry Edward Manning 1:01:55 First Vatican Council 1:05:28 Roman Ghetto - Post 1815 1:11:33 Mortara Affair 1:13:45 Living Conditions in Ghetto 1:16:22 Synagogue of Satan 1:17:50 Positive Interaction with Jews 1:19:27 Conclusion Primary Sources Fourth Lateran Council. Constitutions of the Fourth Lateran Council. Canon 68. In Papal Encyclicals Online. Gregory XVI. Cum Primum. 1832. ———. In Supremo Apostolatus. 1839. ———. Maiori Certe (Papal Brief). 13 December 1833. ———. Mirari Vos. 1832. ———. Singulari Nos. 1834. ———. Summo Iugiter Studio. 1832. ———. Commissum Divinitus. 1835. Leo XII. Ubi Primum. 1824. Pius VIII. Traditi Humilitati. 1829. Pius IX. Non Semel (Papal Allocution). 29 April 1848. ———. Qui Pluribus. 1846. ———. Syllabus Errorum (Syllabus of Errors). 8 December 1864. ———. Ubi Urbaniano. 30 July 1864. Leo XIII. In Plurimis. 1888. Leo XIV. Magnifica Humanitas. 15 May 2026. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. New American Bible, Revised Edition. Revelation 2:9–10 and Revelation 3:8–10. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. New American Bible, Revised Edition. Galatians 2:13–16. Secondary Sources Losing a Kingdom, Gaining the World. By Ambrogio A. Caiani. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2023. A History of the Popes 1830–1914. By Owen Chadwick. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. The Teaching of Contempt. By Jules Isaac. The Modernity of Others. By Ari Joskowicz. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014. The Popes Against the Jews. By David I. Kertzer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. The Pope Who Would Be King. By David I. Kertzer. New York: Random House, 2018. Félicité de Lamennais and the Jews: Evolutions in Ambivalence. By Julie Kalman. Proceedings of the Western Society for French History 35 (2007): 207–217. The Jesuits. By John W. O'Malley. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church. By John W. O'Malley. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018. The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914. By Richard J. Evans. New York: Penguin Press, 2016. The Popes Against the Jews. By Marc Saperstein. Commonweal, 14 June 2004. Varieties of Ultramontanism. Edited by Jeffrey P. von Arx. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1998. Caiani, Ambrogio A. To Kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021. Nirenberg, David. Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Out of the Ghetto: The Social Background of Jewish Emancipation, 1770–1870. By Jacob Katz. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973. Rist, Rebecca. Popes and Jews, 1095–1291. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Stow, Kenneth R. Jewish Life in Early Modern Rome: Challenge, Conversion, and Private Life. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007. Bonfil, Robert. Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy. Translated by Anthony Oldcorn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.