Oh No, the Catholics are Coming (Again)
Increasingly, members of the Trump orbit are Conservative Catholics, which unfortunately brings to mind previously disastrous Catholic interventions into politics such as Franco’s Spain, Hitler’s Germany, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Roman Empire
Forget the Protestant Evangelicals (I’ll get to them later), the Trump orbit is filling up with crusading conservative Catholics, including William Barr, Kellyanne Conway, Rudy Giuliani, Kayleigh McEnany, Wilbur Ross, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, Pat Cipollone, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Kimberly Guilfoyle. I was raised a Presbyterian (not Evangelical), and married a Catholic (a liberal one, of which half of Catholics identify…no problem there). My mother-in-law was a Conservative Catholic from Spain, and it always startled me to hear her deny that the Spanish Inquisition ever happened. I get my deceased Conservative Catholic father in law’s mail now, and am also startled at how politically activist the right wing of the Catholic Church has become. This is in apparently contrast to Pope Francis, who has denounced extreme nationalism, racial xenophobia and capital punishment, while allowing divorced people to take communion (to the horror of the conservatives…wow, what a lefty!) There has been an almost historic alliance between right wing Catholics and Evangelicals as of late (Trump Evangelicals being Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Betsy DeVos and Ben Carson) and “Christianized” Jews (Jared Kushner, Steven Miller, Jay Sekulow, Steve Mnuchin), which is scary given that these divergent groups have traditionally kept each other in check in America. One hopes that this is not the beginning of more questionable entries of conservative Catholic dogma into politics, which has usually ended badly in History. While it is good to see religious groups forming a consensus, one would hope it would stay on the church/morality side and be along the lines of tolerance and peace, not race baiting, violence, and oppression.
The more recent instances of conservative Catholics messing up are Franco’s Spain and Hitler’s Germany. In 1930’s Spain, the royalty had recently agreed to cede control to the 2nd Spanish Republic in 1931. This government was originally centrist, and advocated for separation of church and state (which meant defunding Catholic churches and schools), autonomy for Basque and Catalonian regions, agrarian reform, women’s right to vote, and recognition of divorce. This government was not popular with the far-left (which was becoming more communist) and especially the right, which was becoming increasingly fascist. Soon this new government was having economic problems, and events such as the burning of convents by leftists in 1933, helped mobilize the right. Though the 1936 election was narrowly won by the reformers (by now a leftist coalition called “Loyalists”), the Military (led by General Francisco Franco, who quickly branded himself a “Nationalist”) took over with the support of the Catholic Church (and other European Fascists including Hitler). The Catholic Church played a prominent role in Franco’s rise to power, and yet was squeezed out when he won the Spanish Civil War and became a full dictator for the next 40 years. (Britannica Editors, 2020)
The complicity of German Catholics in the Third Reich is more complicated. Though the church suffered during the invasion of Catholic Poland, over 1000 dissident non-German priests died at Dachau, and some Jews were protected by the church, the Catholic resistance to Hitler was generally considered weak. Though over 1/3 of Germans are Catholic (and 2/3 Protestant), they were both slow to check Hitler’s rise to power in the early 30s. Later, their protection of Jews and other affected people was spotty and ineffective. Although then Pope Pius XII’s opposition early was weak, he did speak out against persecution towards the end of the war (when it looked like Hitler would lose). As in Spain, the German Catholics seemed to fear the godless Communists more than the xenophobic Nationalists, and were duped. After the war, the church offered many apologies for the complicity and lack of condemnation by most German priests. (Carroll, 1999)
The Spanish Inquisition was but one of many Medieval attempts at “cleansing” non-Catholics in the late Middle Ages. The first was conducted against the Cathars of southern France in 1140, who had developed another “brand” of Catholicism heavily influenced by Gnostic thought (dualistic, and previously crushed by the Romans). The Waldensian Inquisition in Italy and Germany (1170) set out to “reform” a sect that questioned the materialistic (and other) pursuits of the Church (a preview of the Reformation). The resultant Albigensian and Waldensian Crusades’ body counts were into the hundreds of thousands. The Spanish Inquisition was aimed at Jewish and Islamic converts who had supposedly lapsed. They were “encouraged” to confess, and many died either not confessing, or confessing too late. These confessions were part of a campaign to stamp out defiance and consolidate power over Spanish lands, and were eagerly subscribed to by the Royalty at the time (most famously King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in the late 1400s). In fact, some historians say that these inquisitions were conducted more by the royalty than the church, as they effectively demonized the “unholy” and made the monarchy more popular and rich. (Walther, 1968)(Britannica Editors, 2020)
The Crusades to the Holy Lands were conducted from 1095 to 1291, and were similarly a partnership between European royalty and the Catholic Church. Ironically, the Middle East at that time was up to 60% Christian already (mostly Egyptian Coptic, Assyrian, Armenian, and Syrian Christians), and the Crusaders (mostly from Germany, England, France, and Italy) spent almost as much time fighting and killing Jews, Eastern Orthodox and Middle Eastern Christians as they did Islamic Infidels (But hey! They didn’t know!) This effort may also have been a dubious partnership between the Pope and various European kings to secure power and enrich themselves, while creating a foreign “bogeyman” as a pretext (even though those foreign bad guys were also monotheistic Old Testament worshippers…details). The Templars were the better among the Crusaders, and seem to have gotten the script right after comparing notes with various Middle Eastern Christians, Jews, and Islamic people…that the Romans had invented Catholicism as a dubious brand that helped maintain their power and wealth. Of course, that couldn’t last and the Pope and King of France snuffed out the Templars in 1314. (Jotischky et al)
Which leads us to the grandest example of Catholic church/state violation, the creation of the Roman Catholic church, initiated by St. Peter’s Church in the First Century, and later legalized by Roman Emperor Constantine I in 313 AD. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD brought about a dispute regarding the nature of the Holy Trinity, which divided Christians among those within the Roman Empire, and those outside (called Arians, and sometimes Gnostics). Of course, it is easy to see why subsequent Roman Emperors embraced the Church, as it gave them a kind of otherworldly blessing and justification, while allowing them to demonize those outside their borders (which subsequently gave them more power and wealth). (Wasson, 2013)
Early in the history of this Country, the Puritans hated the Catholics (for some good reasons), but then the Puritans were not perfect themselves, so that people like Rev. Roger Williams thought it was a good idea to separate church and state. In the British colonies, Catholicism didn’t really take root until the Maryland Provinces in the 1650s, and later when French and Spanish colonies were absorbed. You might even say that the historic animosities between conservative Protestants and Catholics in this country may have kept balance between church and state. Certainly the religious forces have never achieved as much power here as they did in Europe, nor have they developed a similar power to enrich themselves and oppress others. That is one reason why the U.S. system has been the envy of others (not envied because Protestants and Catholics have hated each other, but because we have kept a balance). This conservative Christian junta (with so many Catholic justices) may likely try to claim first amendment protections, the way corporations have successfully done in the “Citizen’s United” case, which allowed them to pour money into elections. (Davis, 2010)
To be fair, though Catholics are the all-time leaders in disastrous partnerships with the politics of racist political oppression, American Protestants (and especially Evangelicals) are catching up as of late. Substantial elements of the KKK, Qanon, and White Supremacist movements have been represented by non-Catholic elements in the past 150 years, and some have infiltrated the government ranks. Perhaps this is because Catholicism in America is disproportionally the religion of diverse immigrants, and Protestantism primarily the religion of white incumbents. (Puett, 2020)
All of which raises the current question, where are we going with this unprecedented church/state cooperation in the Trump administration? The Trump family, of course, has very sketchy religious credentials, but they know a good “deal” when they see it…religious blessings bring legitimacy and power. If Trump et al are to take up where the Francos/Hitlers/Ferdinands/ Richard the Lionhearteds/& Constantine Is left off, he knows he will need the help of the Pope Pius XIs/Pope Pius XIIs/Pope Sixtus IVs/Pope Urban IIs/St. Pauls and the Catholic hardliners who have never questioned the legitimacies of what they were doing, going back to the Roman Empire. They will likely try to form a team trying to create a win/win for those seeking a kind of racist legitimacy combined with a lust for power and wealth. Lest Conservative Catholics want to achieve levels of complicity during the Franco and Hitler days, they might start saying things like “we advocate for the life of the unborn, but also for racial tolerance, justice, peace, and against corruption and usury”.
Other Vern Scott Articles on the History of Religion:
