The Bull Auctorem Fidei was issued by Pope Pius VI on August 28, 1794. This papal bull was a critical response to the Synod of Pistoia of 1786, which had proposed several reforms considered controversial by the Catholic Church. Here are some of the main ideas and points addressed in the bull:
Condemnation of jansenism: The bull reaffirmed the Church's opposition to Jansenist doctrines, which were seen as heretical. Jansenism, with its rigorist view, might seem the opposite of the humanist optimism that triumphed at the Second Vatican Council. However, both movements stem from an imbalance in the relationship between nature and grace. Conciliar humanism, by postulating an almost autonomous dignity in modern man, minimizes the wounds of original sin and the absolute necessity of grace for the righteousness of acts. The condemnation of Pistoia, therefore, represented a defense of authentic Catholic doctrine, which avoids both exaggerated pessimism about fallen human nature and the naive optimism that exalts it as if it did not need redemption (Calderón, 2010).
Defense of papal authority: Pius VI reaffirmed the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope in matters of faith and morals. This point is crucial. The Synod of Pistoia's attack on the papal monarchy is a direct precursor to the doctrine of "collegiality" promoted by Vatican II. The Bull Auctorem Fidei defends the monarchical structure divinely instituted by Christ, where the Pope holds the fullness of jurisdiction. Vatican II, in contrast, introduced an ambiguous notion of a "college" of bishops that would also be, along with the Pope, the subject of supreme power. This "democratization" of ecclesiastical power is one of the pillars of the conciliar revolution, as it weakens vertical authority and replaces it with a parliamentary structure, more susceptible to the pressures of the "spirit of the age" (Calderón, 2010, p. 104-107).
Critique of liturgical reforms: The bull condemned proposals for simplifying the liturgy and the excessive use of vernacular languages in religious services. Pistoia's liturgical proposals astonishingly anticipate the post-conciliar liturgical reform. Pius VI's critique of these trends defended the liturgy as a sacred, theocentric, and immutable cult in its essence. The new liturgy, a fruit of the spirit of Vatican II, transformed the Sacrifice into a celebration of the community, a "cult of the pharisee" that glorifies man and his work, instead of being the "cult of the publican" that propitiates God through the Cross of Christ. The simplification and use of the vernacular served the purpose of desacralizing the mystery and making it more accessible to modern man, thus inverting its fundamental purpose (Calderón, 2010, p. 122).
Rejection of conciliarism: It condemned the idea that general councils are above the Pope in authority. This is the same root of the error of collegiality. The Bull reaffirms the traditional doctrine that the authority of a council derives from its union with its head, the Pope. The inversion proposed by Pistoia, and later by the spirit of Vatican II, is fundamentally democratic: authority emanates from the base (the people of God or, on a second level, the college of bishops) and the Pope becomes a moderator or a primus inter pares. This destroys the very nature of authority as a power that comes from God through His Vicar, and not as a representation of the will of the majority (Calderón, 2010, p. 107).
Defense of the sacraments: It reaffirmed the traditional doctrines on the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The defense of traditional sacramental doctrine by Pius VI opposed a rationalist view that sought to empty the sacraments of their ex opere operato efficacy. Modern thought, which Pistoia prefigured, tends to transform the sacraments into "symbols" of the community's faith or existential "encounters," rather than instruments that confer grace by their own virtue. This same tendency is manifested in the new theology, which redefines the Church itself as a "sacrament" of humanity, diluting the unique nature and necessity of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ (Calderón, 2010, p. 115).
Opposition to regalism: It criticized the attempts of states to interfere in ecclesiastical affairs. The Bull defended the freedom of the Church against subordination to the temporal power, a fundamental principle of Christendom. Paradoxically, the "New Christendom" proposed by conciliar humanism results in an even greater, albeit more subtle, submission. By accepting the autonomy of the temporal with a purely natural end and by promoting "religious freedom" as a civil right, the Church renounces its indirect authority over the State, becoming just another "spiritual community" in a secular society, whose hidden power ultimately dictates the course for all (Calderón, 2010, p. 66, 95).
Condemnation of anticlericalism: It rejected proposals that diminished the role of the clergy in the Church. Pistoia, by attacking the hierarchical structure, manifested an anticlerical spirit. Vatican II achieved this same diminishment in a more ingenious way, through the exaltation of the "common priesthood of the faithful." By stating that this common priesthood and the ministerial one, although essentially different, "are ordered one to another," the new theology subverts the order, making the hierarchical priesthood a mere "function of service" for the priestly community, which is the entire Church. This erases the fundamental distinction between the clergy, who act in persona Christi, and the laity (Calderón, 2010, p. 98).
Defense of religious orders: It opposed attempts to suppress or radically reform monastic orders. The religious orders, with the practice of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, are the most radical witness against the spirit of the world. Humanism, which seeks a reconciliation with earthly values (the "consistency of temporal realities"), sees this radical negation as excessive and inhuman. Pius VI's defense of religious orders was a defense of the path of Christian perfection, which the modern spirit considers an "apostasy and a regression" from purely human values (Calderón, 2010, p. 37).
Reaffirmation of the doctrine of original sin: It defended the traditional Catholic understanding of original sin against more liberal interpretations. This is a neuralgic point. The practical denial of the consequences of original sin is the basis of conciliar optimism. By presenting Christ as the "perfect man" who reveals man to himself, rather than the Redeemer who saves him from an unpayable debt to God, the Council presupposes a human nature that, deep down, is not so wounded. The Bull Auctorem Fidei, by reaffirming traditional doctrine, maintained the centrality of the Cross and sacrifice, something that humanism seeks to abolish in order to affirm that salvation is not a work of justice, but of a love that cancels the debt (Calderón, 2010, p. 121).
Censure of 85 propositions: The bull specifically condemned 85 propositions from the Synod of Pistoia, classifying them as heretical, erroneous, subversive, etc. The method of the Bull is, in itself, a testimony of the traditional Magisterium: clear, precise, and condemnatory. Vatican II inaugurated a new "pastoral" style, which deliberately avoids condemnations and precise dogmatic definitions, preferring an ambiguous and "inclusive" language. This refusal to condemn error, justified by a false optimism, is what allowed "subjectivism" and "theological pluralism" to establish themselves as a method, leaving the faith unprotected against the very same errors that, in Pistoia, were clearly identified and anathematized (Calderón, 2010, p. 31-32).
This bull was a response to the reformist tendencies within the Catholic Church at the end of the 18th century, reaffirming traditional doctrines and papal authority in a period of significant social and political changes in Europe. Indeed, the Bull Auctorem Fidei remains a beacon, a prophetic diagnosis of the errors that, left latent for almost two centuries, erupted with overwhelming force at the Second Vatican Council, marking the triumph of the "religion of man" over the Religion of God (Calderón, 2010).
References
Calderón, Álvaro. Prometeo: la religión del hombre, 2010.