Bases para entender "La polémica de auxiliis" (1582-1607) P. Gabriel Calvo Zarraute

Foundations for Understanding "The Controversy of Auxiliis" (1582-1607) Gabriel Calvo Zarraute    / @lasacristiadelavendee   https://filosofia.org/ave/001/a152.ht.... The Controversy of Auxiliis is the theological dispute that, at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, pitted the most illustrious Spanish theologians of the Dominican and Jesuit religious orders against each other regarding the matters of grace and predestination. The question under debate was a classic one: To what extent is it possible to reconcile God's infinite power and omniscience with human freedom? Dominicans and Jesuits subjected each other to fierce attacks. The Jesuits, whose champion was Luis de Molina, author of *Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis*, reacted against the Protestant fatalism of Luther and his followers, seeking to salvage human freedom from divine determinism. For this reason, the Dominican friars, led by Domingo Báñez, accused them of falling into the error of Pelagius. In response to this accusation, the Jesuits counterattacked, accusing the Dominicans of embracing Luther's error. Already at the Council of Trent, we find the Jesuits Diego Laínez and Alfonso Salmerón defending pre-Molinaist ideas. And in 1567, Domingo Báñez held his first public debate in Alcalá, opposing the pre-Molinaist ideas defended by Father Deza, S.J. But it was in 1582 that pre-Molinaism entered the public arena at a scholastic event held in the schools of Salamanca and presided over by the Mercedarian friar Francisco Zumel. At this event, Father Prudencio Montemayor, S.J., defended an idea that would appear in the Concord of Molina and which Báñez would censure in his Apology of the Dominican Friars. As a consequence of the defense of this thesis, Báñez denounced Father Prudencio Montemayor and Friar Luis de León, who had defended the Jesuit at the same scholastic event, to the Council of the Inquisition. Báñez accused them of attempting to introduce reckless doctrines with Pelagian undertones into the schools. As a result of this denunciation, the Holy Office ruled against Father Montemayor, who was forced to abandon the teaching of theology, and against Friar Luis de León, who was forbidden to continue defending this doctrine. Thus, premolinism was prohibited in Spain. Six years later, in 1588, Luis de Molina published his Concordia liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, divina praescientia, providentia, praedestinatione et reprobatione in Lisbon. Premolinist ideas took systematic form in this work, whose publication the Dominicans tried to prevent, but in vain, since the Portuguese Inquisition had not condemned premolinism, unlike what had happened in Spain. The publication of the Concordia meant that Molinism was widely disseminated and discussed. But the Dominicans denounced the work to the Council of the Inquisition in Spain, alleging that it contained the same reckless assertions that had already been condemned in 1582. For this reason, the Jesuits, fearing another condemnatory ruling, appealed to Rome, much to the displeasure of the Spanish Inquisition and Philip II himself. In 1594, Clement VIII decided to reserve the resolution of the case for himself while simultaneously imposing silence on the litigants. However, faced with Philip II's discontent, Clement VIII agreed that the censures of the Concordia could be carried out in Spain. In 1598, Rome acknowledged receipt of all the censures and documents relating to the case. From this moment on, Dominicans and Jesuits took all their discussions to the papal court. Initially, Clement VIII, reluctant to condemn the Concordat, attempted to bring the Dominicans and Jesuits to an agreement by arranging private talks. However, these sessions became so heated that Clement VIII himself decided to preside over the debates. On February 14, 1602, the papal congregations began in the Vatican, of which eighty-nine would be held. While presiding over one of these sessions, Clement VIII suffered a stroke that would lead to his death. His successor on the papal throne, Paul V, ordered the disputes to resume. Finally, in 1607, he decreed freedom for Dominicans and Jesuits to defend their doctrines and an absolute prohibition against labeling either doctrine as heresy. The Jesuits, elated by the ruling, acclaimed Molina victorious and celebrated with public festivities, including fireworks, music, and bullfights.