This week in Christian history: Virginia bishop dies, Cardinal Richelieu born

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, September 03, 2023

Pope Clement XI issues Unigenitus Dei Filius – Sept. 8, 1713

Giovanni Francesco Albani (1649-1721), an Italian nobleman who served as pope under the name Clement XI and was also ruler of the Papal States from 1700 until his death. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when Pope Clement XI issued Unigenitus Dei Filius, a papal bull that condemned the beliefs of a French dissident religious movement known as Jansenism.

Founded by theologian and bishop Cornelius Otto Jansen, Jansenism argued that divine grace held greater sway than human freedom in salvation, and was critical of the power of the pope.

Unigenitus was issued at the behest of French King Louis XIV and directly addressed theological arguments made by Jansenist writer Pasquier Quesnel in the book Réflexions morales.

“In 1717 four bishops appealed against the bull to a future ecumenical council (which they held to have authority over the pope). But the bishops’ effective opposition ended with the death of Cardinal de Noailles in 1729,” explained Britannica.

“As a further blow to the Jansenist cause, a royal declaration of 1730 made the bull a law of the state and threatened ecclesiastics who rejected it with loss of lands … In 1754 King Louis XV forbade continuation of the dispute.”