The somewhat harsh ideas of the liberal Catholics pushed the Church to ask herself questions that perhaps no one else was asking, but that were vital for the future of the faith. They were questions of enculturation, of how to respond to the new challenges that society was experiencing. Their questions were not totally silenced by papal encyclicals, but they continued on in the minds of Catholic thinkers who were looking for answers. The end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century saw the arising of the same questions plus the ones posed by the Modernists on the historical accuracy of the Scriptures. The Holy See chose once more to follow Ultramontanist and fundamentalist ideas by closing the doors to the historical-critical method and wiping out any possibility of error in the Bible. Finally, several of the ideas of the liberal Catholics were collected in the debates during the Second Vatican Council. Bishops, Cardinals, priests, and the two popes who were involved in the Council were more open to democracy and freedom of religion than their …show more content…
Today we have a Church that has implemented some of the liberal ideas, especially since the Second Vatican Council. There is more openness to other religions, freedom of press, and education. There is also an openness to scientific methods for the study of the Scriptures. However, there still exists division between traditionalist and liberal Catholics, who have different ideas about the future of the Church and the way doctrine should be applied in the pastoral field. The condemnations from one side to the other continue to happen. The big difference of today’s Church with the one in the previous centuries is the response of the Pope. He has been more open to dialogue with the culture and careful in not condemning people in a reactionary way, but allowing them to express what they have to say. The Church will always need of voices that express different ideas, so she will be able to grow in the understanding of herself and the relationship she has to have with the whole