Michael Burleigh details the decimation of the bishoprics and clergy in Franch during the Revolution. This had the unintended consequence of raising the profile of the Pope: Without local or regional authorities to look to, the remaining French clergy looked all the way to Rome: “Ineluctably, the papacy assumed a solitary dignity in a drastically simplified landscape, and ultramontanism, or overarching loyalty to the pope, grew among the clergy as a defence mechanism against those who paid their salaries [the French authorities] and who could therefore dismiss them for dissidence.”
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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