Gallicanism

Gallicanism, in ecclesiastical history, a combination of theological doctrines and political positions supporting the relative independence of the French Roman Catholic church and the French government in their relations with the pope. It was the opposite of ultramontanism, which called for active intervention of the pope in French internal affairs.

Three relatively distinct, although closely related, strands of Gallicanism existed. Ecclesiastical Gallicanism argued that the decisions of ecumenical councils had supremacy over the pope, that the pope was not infallible, and that all bishops were established by divine right as the successors of the apostles. Royal Gallicanism stressed the French kings' absolute independence from Rome in all temporal affairs. Parlementary Gallicanism, a position of the French royal courts, or parlements, was more radical and aggressive, advocating the complete subordination of the French church to the state and, if necessary, the intervention of the government in the financial and disciplinary affairs of the clergy.

The roots of Gallicanism can be traced back at least to the early Middle Ages and to the numerous struggles between the French kings and the popes over political authority and the power to fill clerical positions and collect certain taxes. The first coherent expositions of Gallicanism as a doctrine date from the late 14th and early 15th centuries, when Gallicanism was closely tied to the counciliar movement (see Conciliar Theory) and the efforts to end the Great Schism (see Schism, Great) in the church. Thereafter, Gallicanism was greatly strengthened by certain institutional developments. Through the Concordat of 1516, the pope gave the French king the right to appoint all bishops in his realm. The development of the General Assembly of the French clergy in the 16th century strengthened the cohesion and independence of the French episcopacy in relation to Rome. The doctrine achieved its fullest triumph with the Four Gallican Articles of 1682, issued by the General Assembly under the leadership of Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and accepted by King Louis XIV. The Four Articles, which reaffirmed the basic tenets of royal and ecclesiastical Gallicanism, were immediately rejected by the pope and later officially renounced by Louis himself. They were taught, however, in French universities and seminaries until the French Revolution (1789).

Following the Revolution, certain Gallican attitudes lingered among the French episcopacy until the mid-19th century. The declaration of the First Vatican Council (1869-70) on papal infallibility and the general triumph of ultramontanism among the French clergy, however, brought an end to the movement.