THE AGE OF "ENLIGHTENMENT" The ath century was the period of the greatest difficulty for the papacy. Infidel philosophy, the insincere and superficial "en lightenment" movement, and a spirit of frivolous and mocking scepticism bid against one another for ascendancy over the minds of men. The revolt against authority spread from the religious sphere to morality, politics and science, and the temporal powers encroached more and more on the domain of the Church, with the aim of subjugating it entirely. All these disintegrating influences led in Catholic countries as well as in others to a slackening in the vitality of the Church.
The long reign of Clement XI., who was a member of the Albani family, was a period of trouble and difficulty. Clement was extremely active in promoting missionary work, and was a zealous preacher. He adopted a firm attitude towards Jansenism, and in 1713 condemned 'or theses from Quesnel's book. This Bull aroused strong opposition in France. The pope took a number of measures with the object of improving ecclesiastical discipline and public morality, and alleviating the lot of the poor. His relatives did not become powerful until after his death. He set up the Academy of Painting and Architecture in Bologna, and did much in Rome for the restoration of monu ments and churches, as well as enriching the Vatican library with oriental manuscripts. He endeavoured to remain neutral in the War of the Spanish Succession (q.v.), which created serious dis turbances in Italy also ; but he appeared to incline to the side of the Bourbons rather than to that of the Habsburgs. The Emperors Leopold I. and Joseph I. made ruthless use of their power, and oppressed the papal State. The claims of the pope were ignored by both sides in the peace negotiations of '713.
The English Pretender, James III., who had left France for Italy in 1717 and had married Maria Clementine Sobieski, was hospitably received by Clement XI. and was given the title of knight of St. George. It was during the troubled pontificate of Clement XI. that Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, took the title of king of Prussia (1700), and laid the foundation of a new great Protestant Power. Clement protested, though in vain, against
the formation of the new kingdom, since the duchy of Prussia was the property of the Teutonic Order and had not been lawfully transferred.
Innocent XIII. gave help to the Venetians and the Maltese against the Turks. He granted a pen sion to the Pretender, James III., and promised him subsidies if circumstances should become favourable for him to attempt to regain the throne of England and to re-establish Catholicism there. He invested the Emperor Charles VI. with the kingdom of Sicily, without raising the question of the Monarchia Sicula; but he pro tested when the emperor, disregarding the ancient right of over lordship of the pope, gave the fiefs of Parma and Piacenza to the Spanish Infante Don Carlos.
Benedict XIII., who was a Domini can and a member of the ducal house of Orsini-Gravina, attached much importance to austerity of life, checked the ostentation of the cardinals, and forbade games of chance in Rome. He encour aged scholarship among the clergy. He presided in person at the Provincial Council at the Lateran in 1725. He enjoyed the triumph of receiving the submission of Noailles, archbishop of Paris, who had headed the opposition against the Bull of 1713. Others fol lowed the archbishop's example, and Jansenism ceased to be of importance as a heresy. The emperor restored Comachio, which had been taken from the Papal States in 1708. The question of the ecclesiastical privileges of the ruler of Sicily (Monarchic Sicula) was settled owing to the conciliatory action of the pope, who also showed his readiness to compromise in connection with the ecclesiastical claims of the king of Sardinia, in whose domains freethinkers were influential. It was owing to his lack of experi ence in worldly affairs that the pope, who was entirely absorbed in spiritual matters, gave his confidence to a worthless favourite, the hypocritical and avaricious Cardinal Coscia, whose gross mal administration reduced the finances to a state of confusion.