One of the most interesting features of recent religious life has been the growing movement away from Rome which has taken place during the past half century. In the beginning of the nineteenth century it seemed to be unquestioned that the bounds of Protes- tantism and Romanisn were finally settled and that a new Reformation was not to be looked for. But the middle of the century saw a great intellectual, political, and religious awakening which was destined to have unexpected results in the ecclesiastical world. It became impossible to maintain the persecuting laws against Protestants which characterised all Roman Catholic countries, and these laws gradually disappeared or were mitigated, and mission work began. These missions have been carried on with varying suoteas, partly by the small native Protestant Churches, partly by missionary societies in England, America, and Germany. But the movement away from Rome has not been due entirely or even mainly to these missionary efforts. It has been due to movements of various kinds inside the Church of Rome itself. The growth of political liberty made men dissatisfied with the despotism of the Vatican; and as the middle of the last century wag characterized in the political sphere by a fierce struggle between absolutism and democracy, so in the ecclesiastical world there was a similar struggle between ultrar montanism and the desire for greater freedom and elasticity of organization. In the political world democracy triumphed, but in the ecclesiastical ultramontanism won the day, and the result of its victory was the Vatican Council and the decree of papal infallibility (see Vatican Council). Owing to the reluctance of Döllinger (q.v.) to create a schism and to the cowardice of some of the bishops who fought in the council against the decree, but accepted it when it had passed, the Old Catholic Church did not begin its career with numbers at all as large as were expected; but it hex continued its course with a hopeful future in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and with a few followers in France, Italy, and Mexico. Its friendship for Protestantism has drawn it more and more away from the characteristic doctrines of Romanian, and in some places it serves as a temporary spiritual resting-place for those who are discontented with Rome, but not yet prepared for the decisive step of adopting a thoroughly Evangelical Protestantism. See Old Catholics.
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