The Synthesis of All Heresies

The rise of liberalism in the West during the 19th and 20th centuries led to the proliferation of secularism within western nations. St. John Henry Newman worried that liberalism might threaten “to have a formidable success,” and it has with its primary fruit being the rise of secularism, particularly the rise of wholly secular governments (Newman 1). The spread of secularism has resulted in, unsurprisingly, a significant loss of religious belief in western nations and the ideological root of secularism’s rise is modernism (Wormald 1). Pope St. Pius stated that modernism was “the synthesis of all heresies,” and for good reason (Pope St. Pius X 39). Modernism, at its core, states that the human “is incapable of lifting itself up to God, and of recognising His existence” because “human reason is confined entirely within the field of … things that are perceptible to the senses” and so the heart of modernism is that the truth of religion is unknowable (Pope St. Pius X, 6). This essay will explore two elements of the modernist heresy which show that Pope St. Pius X’s assessment of it is true. These elements are: religious indifferentism and religious skepticism with its accompanying view of human intellectual inaccessibility to the Divine. Ultimately, this essay will argue that the popes of the 19th and early 20th centuries, along with St. John Henry Newman, were right to be so worried and hostile towards modernism.

The first element of modernism’s threatening nature to discuss is its tenet of religious indifferentism which, as Cardinal Newman defines it, is the view “that one creed is as good as another” (Newman 1). Pope Gregory XVI defined even more clearly as the view “that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained” (Pope Gregory XVI 13). It is characteristic of modern man to view all religions as equal, in some sense and perennialism seems to pervade the conscience of many people in the modern era and so it is no surprise that it is found in the modernist heresy. Precepts of modernism that flow from its religious indifferentism are an unbridled “liberty of conscience” and “freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people” (Pope Gregory XVI 14-15). Liberalism’s presence can also be felt in these consequences as these liberties are often promoted by liberals as essential rights of man. Now, the Church would not condemn these rights wholesale as Vatican II would later clarify that “it is an injustice done to the human person, and to the order laid down for men by God, if a man is denied the free exercise of religion in society,” rather it is these rights in a from which is not oriented towards the Good which is condemned (Kleinz 180).

The papal hostility towards these aspects and outgrows of modernism was justified as can be seen in the fruits of these realities in the modern world. Religious indifferentism has led to an unprecedented amount of apathy towards religion, along with a subsequent decline in religious population. A British study finding that “52% of the public now saying they do not regard themselves as belonging to any religion” and “(66%) of people in Britain never attend religious services” display the current religious apathy, at least amongst the British people (Cutrice 2). Moreover, the decline in religious population can be seen in a recent study from King’s College showing that belief in God among Britons was “75% … in 1981” whilst it was only “49% in 2022” (Duffy 4). The liberty of conscience and unrestricted freedom of the press has also resulted in many detrimental effects such as the popularity of abortion amongst Western nations, despite this being gravely contrary to the natural law. Furthermore, the widespread dissemination of pornography, for example, is a clear example of how unbound freedom of the press can lead to the publication and near ubiquitous access to harmful content, especially for the youth. All this is to say that at least in regard to religious indifferentism, Newman and the 19th and early 20th century popes were right to be so hostile towards modernism. 

Secondly, there is a skepticism of religious truth inherent to modernism which makes it diametrically opposed to the Catholic faith. Cardinal Newman describes this skepticism as the stance “that there is no positive truth in religion” (Newman 1). This is to say, that modernism is skeptical of the reality of any religious truth. This makes, as Newman points out, religion a matter of “sentiment and … taste; not” of “objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy” (Newman 1). An obvious consequence of this view is the religious indifferentism discussed above. Moreover, since the absence of religious truth makes religion merely a matter of opinion, it also makes religion a private matter. This brings religion out of the public sphere and so entails a divorce between religious entities and public ones, as demonstrated in the modern notion of the separation of Church and State. Such divorce has led to an increasing hostility towards religion in the public sphere, which has hindered the influence of Christianity in society. This has led to an increasing reliance on governments and secular authorities for guidance and principles in society as religion is no longer “the bond of society” (Newman 1). Religious authorities, as a result, have been dismissed as  irrelevant since they offer solutions of an otherworldly nature, even though the horizon of secular society is only this world. This has had the effect of the Catholic Church, which strongly believes in the power of religious authority, being sidelined in public discourse, thus leading to a further discreditation of the Catholic Church’s authority. Thus, it is no wonder why popes exposed to modernism in its development were strongly opposed to it. The most significant point here, however, is that this view more fundamentally leads to a limited view of human reason where supernatural reality cannot be accessed by the human mind.

This is the cornerstone of modernism which sufficiently proves why Newman and the 19th-20th century popes possessed their antagonistic attitude towards it, and it is the modernist claim that the Divine and supernatural are inaccessible to the human mind. There are many levels at which this inaccessibility manifests in modernism. In its most general form, the modernist view of reason states that “human reason is confined entirely within the field of … things that are perceptible to the senses,” which is to say that human reason is confined to the realm of the physical; the empirical (Pope St. Pius X, 6). With relation to God Himself, “it is inferred that God can never be the direct object of science, and that, as regards history, He must not be considered as an historical subject” within the modernist framework (Pope St. Pius X 6). Moreover, the modernist view makes faith subordinate to science as the physical sciences deal with realities that can be empirically verified and since religious truths do not fall under this domain, they must be inaccessible to the human mind. Now, this is not to say that historical study of religious texts or fitting a theological worldview within the world that science explores are opposed to the Catholic faith. Rather, the skepticism towards these subjects aimed at these fields of study when they intentionally preclude faith and revealed truths from entering these fields as a mode of interpreting the findings of these disciplines. 

This inaccessibility is what makes modernism such a dangerous heresy as it undermines religion at its most fundamental level: its knowability. If religion is per se unknowable, then it is simply not worth discussing as no progress will be made in these discussions. Furthermore, the other harmful aspects of modernism which were discussed above, like religious indifferentism, flow from the unknowability of religious truth as religion can only be a matter of subjective opinion if there is no objective truth within religion. Moreover, the apathy and disbelief in religion, which was seen previously, flows from the view that religious truth is unknowable. For example, as much as “65%” of people who leave Catholicism say it is because they “stopped believing in the” Church’s “teachings,” and “71%” said that they “gradually drifted away from the” Church (Pew Research Center 1). What greater reason would they have to stop believing in Church teaching drift from Her if not from the fact that She contains no truth. One can also see how the rise of positive atheism in modern-day society, with accompanying atheist movements like The New Atheists, is the fruit of this modernist principle. The attacks of contemporary atheist figures, like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, often come from the view that “religion is a delusion,” which seems nothing more than a statement saying that religious truths are either unknowable or untrue (Burns 5). Perhaps it even says that religious truths are unknowable because they are untrue. Such sentiments permeate secular society and are the fruit of modernism. The popes of the modernist era were able to perceive how delitorus an effect the heresy would have on society without actually living to see a society which had adopted its precepts. Now that a society which has been shaped by modernism exists, one can see that these popes were correct to be so hostile and aggressive towards it.

In conclusion, Pius X’s assessment that modernism is “the synthesis of all heresies” is correct (Pope St. Pius X 39). The reasons for this assessment are that modernism preaches religious indifferentism and religious skepticism, while also viewing supernatural reality as outside the exploratory bounds of human reason. These two precepts make modernism a philosophy diametrically opposed to the Catholic faith. Moreover, the fruits of this ideology have been an increased apathy towards religion, a decline in religious practice and adherence, a sequestering of religion outside the public square, and the promotion of immoral and harmful ideologies and practices in societies where modernism has had sway. All of these factors make it very clear to see why 19th and early century popes, along with traditional theological voices like Cardinal Newman, saw modernism as a threat to the Church and reacted so vehemently against it. The Church following modernism’s condemnation has certainly taken a different tone towards the modern world and its ideas, and in many ways for the betterment of the Church, such as the acceptance and encouragement of modern biblical scholarship. However, the sternness from this age of the Church towards modernism could be regained by the contemporary Church as the modern world desperately calls for an authority to properly order human life and find solutions to complex and novel issues. What greater authority to solve these issues and create a flourishing society than the authority which comes from the love and truth that is Jesus Christ.

Works Cited

Burns, Elizabeth. “The God Delusion: Dawkins on Religion .” The God Delusion: Dawkins on Religion, 2007, sas-space.sas.ac.uk/6606/1/Burns_The_God_Delusion_Dawkins_on_Religion%2C%202007.pdf.

Duffy, Bobby. “Belief, Faith and Religion: Shifting Attitudes in the UK.” The Policy Institute, May 2023, www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/lost-faith-the-uk’s-changing-attitudes-to-religion.pdf. 

Kleinz, Msgr. John P. “Vatican II on Religious Freedom.” The Catholic Lawyer, vol. 13, no. 3, summer 1967, pp. 180–266, https://doi.org/https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1640&context=tcl#:~:text=Its%20subtitle%20already%20restricts%20its,of%20religion%20in%20society%3B%20saving.

Newman, St. John Henry Cardinal. “Biglietto Speech: EWTN.” EWTN Global Catholic Television Network, 14 Apr. 2010, www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/biglietto-speech-5245.

Pew Research Center “Faith in Flux.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, Pew Research Center, 27 Apr. 2009, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2009/04/27/faith-in-flux/.

Pope Gregory XVI. “Mirari Vos.” Papal Encyclicals, 24 Apr. 2017, www.papalencyclicals.net/greg16/g16mirar.htm.

Pope St. Pius X. “Pascendi Dominici Gregis” Pascendi Dominici Gregis (September 8, 1907) | PIUS X, 7 Sept. 1907, www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis.html.

“Religion - British Social Attitudes Survey.” Edited by J Cutrice et al., The National Centre for Social Research, 2016, bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/39293/1_bsa36_religion.pdf.

Wormald, Benjamin. “‘strong’ Catholic Identity at a Four-Decade Low in U.S.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, Pew Research Center, 13 Mar. 2013, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/03/13/strong-catholic-identity-at-a-four-decade-low-in-us/.