Otto Maria Carpeaux (2021) diagnoses the condition of contemporary man as a profound crisis of faith, with origins dating back to the Protestant Reformation. It describes a "fateful path" that, starting from individual autonomy, progresses through successive ideological stages—rationalism, enlightenment, liberalism, imperialism, and Bolshevism—culminating in a state of nihilism, despair, and annihilation. The author points out that the loss of faith in God and transcendent values resulted in a loss of faith in man himself, generating a diffuse sense of guilt and an inclination toward self-destruction, manifested in the rise of suicide rates. The inversion of Christian values—hatred instead of love, powerlessness instead of strength, falsehood instead of truth—is presented as the direct consequence of the abandonment of God, leaving humanity without direction and without hope.
📜The Nature of the Crisis as a ProcessCarpeaux's analysis (2021) converges with the understanding that the modern crisis is not a set of isolated misfortunes but rather a single, total, and dominant process that has been unfolding for centuries. The multiple crises shaking the contemporary world—in politics, family, culture—are, in fact, manifestations of a single fundamental crisis whose field of action is man himself, in the deepest layers of his soul (Oliveira, 1998).
This phenomenon can be described as a critical process already five centuries old, a long system of causes and effects that, born at a specific moment with great intensity, has been producing successive convulsions from the 15th century to our days. The aforementioned "fateful path" is not, therefore, an accidental succession of ideologies, but the manifestation of a single Revolution that metamorphoses throughout history, advancing from one refinement to the next (Oliveira, 1998).
⚔️The Genesis of Disorder: Pride and Sensuality
The identification of the Reformation as the starting point of the crisis, with its "autocracy of the individual" (Carpeaux, 2021), is of utmost importance. Indeed, the profound cause of this revolutionary process lies in an explosion of pride and sensuality. Pride inspires the spirit of doubt, free examination, and the denial of any superior authority, especially spiritual, leading to a radical egalitarianism that hates any and all hierarchy. Sensuality, in turn, tends to tear down all moral barriers, fostering a revolt against all law and authority, which constitutes the liberal aspect of the Revolution (Oliveira, 1998, p. 2).
The Protestant Reformation, or Pseudo-Reformation, was the first great historical manifestation of this process. It implanted religious liberalism and ecclesiastical egalitarianism, undermining the hierarchical structure of the Church and affirming the sovereignty of individual judgment over the Magisterium. It was the first step towards the destruction of all legitimate order, which is Christian civilization (Oliveira, 1998).
🗺️The Successive Stages of the Revolution
The trajectory of "isms" described by Carpeaux (2021) corresponds with remarkable precision to the three great revolutions that mark the stages of this process.
The Pseudo-Reformation (First Revolution) was the starting point, introducing the spirit of doubt and egalitarianism into the religious sphere.
The French Revolution (Second Revolution), heir to rationalism and the enlightenment, represented the triumph of egalitarianism in the political and religious fields, in the form of laicism and the false maxim that all inequality is an injustice. Political liberalism became the expression of popular sovereignty against legitimate authority.
Communism (Third Revolution), called Bolshevism in the text, is the transposition of these maxims to the social and economic fields, attacking the last inequality: that of fortunes.
These three revolutions are episodes of a single Revolution, which aims at the complete destruction of the Christian order (Oliveira, 1998, p. 2).
🌪️The Negation of Order and the Revolutionary Utopia
The state of spiritual desolation described—"we no longer have love, strength, truth, and the way; we do not have God" (Carpeaux, 2021)—is the logical result of the destruction of order par excellence. The order that is being destroyed is the disposition of men and things according to the doctrine of the Church, that is, Christian civilization. In its place, the Revolution intends to implant its opposite: an "anti-order" (Oliveira, 1998, p. 16).
By denying original sin and the Redemption, the Revolution promotes the utopia of an earthly paradise to be achieved through science, technology, and social restructuring. In this world, man would be self-sufficient and achieve definitive happiness without the supernatural. However, by denying God and the distinction between good and evil, the revolutionary process destroys the very foundations of human existence, leading to emptiness, despair, and self-destruction, as well indicated by the "suicide rates" (Carpeaux, 2021). The absence of a path is the inevitable consequence of the denial of the Truth, which is Christ and His Church.
🧭Conclusion
The diagnosis presented by Otto Maria Carpeaux is profoundly confirmed and illuminated when analyzed through the lens of a revolutionary, multi-secular, and metaphysical process. The crisis of faith is not a historical accident but the central objective of a movement that, starting from disordered passions like pride and sensuality, seeks to subvert all legitimate order to implant a state of affairs diametrically opposed to Christian civilization. The abandonment of God, therefore, is not merely a consequence but the cause and engine of the Revolution that leads modern man to the "horror of annihilation."
📚References
CARPEAUX, Otto Maria. Caminhos para a Roma: Aventura, queda e vitória do espírito. Translated by Bruno Mori. Campinas: Vide Editorial, 2021. Kindle Edition.
OLIVEIRA, Plinio Corrêa de. Revolução e Contra-Revolução. 4th ed. São Paulo: Artpress, 1998.