Condemned Light

When ‘Western values’ are invoked, Christianity and enlightenment are often named alongside each other to score points against other religions. The rhetorical move leaves out the story of the Vatican’s vicious resistance against the enlightenment all the way into the twentieth century. Hubert Wolf elucidates why popes were more afraid of democracy and enlightenment than they were of Rome friendly dictatorships, and how Catholic laymen fought for their empowerment, enlightened theologians for their emancipation from Rome and democratic politicians for their Catholic faith. In recent decades the Church has revised its militant opposition to enlightenment values, acknowledged trauma, and opened up to scrutiny. And yet democracy and enlightenment are no matter of course. Wolf’s impassioned account shows Catholicism its own troubled history with the enlightenment in order to finally reconcile the two.