Chrétiens et Sociétés (May 2012)
« Savez-vous ce que vous faites ? Ce que fait un médecin qui saigne dans la crise »
Abstract
In September 1728, while the accommodation of Cardinal de Noailles with Rome finally finds its realization, Pope Benedict XIII dares to set for St. Gregory VII’s Day a new legend which highlights the submission of Emperor Henry IV to the papal power. In France, the decree of the Congregation of Rites immediately draws the combined ire of the “Appelants”, the Parliament and the Ministry. In fact, what is to consider as a true political clumsiness once again revives the never dried up hostility between "Roman maxims" and "French maxims", managing at the same time to unite the different types of opposition to Rome. For Cardinal de Polignac, the King’s chargé d'affaires to Benedict XIII, the task is not easy. It is for him to calm the pontiff who wishes to respond forcefully to the Parliament and the bishops’ sentences and to impose on him a soothing silence which is Fleury’s political line with the Holy See. He then calls the theme of papal infallibility or the excesses of the Holy Office, and meets with the exasperation facing Jansenism and Gallicanism supposedly all-powerful. The study of this negotiation allows us to understand how Rome still plays an important part in the French politico-religious crises of the 18th century, whereas the political discourse of both courts takes over a constantly reactivated former rhetoric.
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