#catholic church

[kalina-c]

Evangelism and forceful conversion is itself the mechanism of imperialism, colonization, and cultural genocide I'm pretty sure. Pretty much no other religion is actively insistent on outsiders joining them, until maybe after Christianity inflicted itself upon the world and they tried to compete, and even then they don't match the energy of Christian evangelists. Which is to say nothing of the systems of violence and white supremacy backing Christianity's efforts thereof and no one else's.

This is absolutely a culturally Christian thing and not just theological, which is why nuatheists can be so insufferable.

Love seeing something from TikTok and going “girlie that is literally what led to the downfall of the Papal States”

[alpaca-clouds]

Emmanuel's Motivation and Believes

I know, I know, we all agree on that we hate Emmanuel definitely now. But given that I adore any narratives filled with Catholic Guilt, I cannot help but also kinda love his story, and go into his thinking. Because I think that is interesting. Plus: It gives me a chance to talk about Catholic doctrine, and some more details about how the French Revolution related to the church.

First let me get one thing straight: I actually do not think that Emmanuel was with the other monks on Malta. I laid out in my analysis on Mizrak when season 1 came out, I am assuming that Mizrak and a good chunk of the monks being with Emmanuel came from Jerusalem, then went to Malta, where the Order of St. John had a long, long hold until Napoleon came around, before going to France - partly in an attempt to help stabilize the political situation there and be warriors for the church.

However, given that we know that Emmanuel was in Machecoul for at least 17 years (because he has to have been there to father Maria) it obviously does not check out for him to have come to France only recently when the political situation in France started to destabilize. Hence, I am assuming, that he is definitely associated with the Order of St. John, but probably has not been in Jerusalem, and only shortly in Malta.

But yes, there is going to be the big influence of the French Revolution.

A quick refresher: The French Revolution came to be, because France was in dept because first a war with England, and then their support of the American Revolution. French society was divided into three estates: Nobility, Clergy, and Peasants. Nobility and Clergy made up about 3% of the population, Peasants the rest. But while Nobility and Clergy had most of the money, they were not taxed. And when they tried to pay the dept through more taxes for the peasants, the peasants said: "We don't think so." And they started to push for more taxes for the nobility and the clergy. And when the Revolution started to get going, they also started to be like: "Actually, you know what? The entire clergy thing is stupid. If you wanna be clergy here, you will do it by the rules of the Republic of France. You have to swear an oath to the Republic, also we will do away with the rules of celibacy and bishops and cardinals will now be elected democratically." And of course, when some of the clergy did not want to swear that oath, some found out what it was to be on the lower end of the guillotine.

As I also spoke about before: In the area where Machecoul is located was the last holdout where people were generally against the revolution, due to the nobility and clergy being very close with the peasants. And of course this would lead to the War in the Vandée, that would end in a massacer - though that is definitely ahead of where we are in the timeline right now.

It is very likely that at least Emmanuel is one of the younger sons of a lower noble house, as the higher ranking clergy were usually from noble bloodlines back then. But given he is "just" an abbot he probably is not from the best pedigree. It might also be that he is a noble bastard - those were often put into positions like abbot and such. Aka: A position with some influence, but not too much.

Chances are, he has been raised on the believe that he is better, because God had decreed it at some point. Which means that he believed that anything the Revolution was doing went directly against the will of God and was in fact blasphemy and heresy of the highest order.

Of course, he probably from the very beginning saw himself as a sinner - given that he himself had broken his vows of chastity when he had had Maria with Tera.

And I think that very much is the core of his motivation. His logic will go something like this:

The people of France were going against Gods will and were basically pushing everyone else to do the same, which did not only depower the church and nobility, but also would end with them all in hell.

He - Emmanuel that is - already is headed for hell, because he not only has broken his vows, but also has done so with a heathen (because Tera is not Christian).

Erzsebeth wants to stop the revolution, and he is very convinced that she is full of shit in regards of having the soul of a goddess inside her - after all he does not believe in any god other than THE God with a capital G.

A "demon" comes along and offers him what to him appears as a surefire way to get rid of Erzsebeth, who to him is a heretic as well, and a demon to boot herself (given she is a vampire).

So yes, from his perspective this makes sense. He selflessly sacrifices his own soul to the demon, works with Erzsebeth to oppose the revolution, before dispatching of Erzsebeth himself with the help of the demon.

Which brings me to the scene with Emmanuel in episode 1 of season 2. When he is made to bring Drolta back. Because this scene is so freaking delicious. In this scene - as Drolta comes back - he starts crying and finally breaks down completely. And while definitely the fact that Erzsebeth did before control the moon, already did something to his religious believes (if she isn't a god, how did she do it?). But then Drolta comes back.

Why does he break down on that?

Well, because this proofs that Drolta has a soul. And together with Erzsebeth's display of powers, this completely dismantled his world view. And this is the moment where I will once more note: Yes, people react to their worldview being dismantled with the same response as they would to a physical threat. Humans are really not good with adjusting their worldview.

So, yeah, the fact that Drolta comes back from the dead proofs to him, that indeed, his religious believes are wrong in at least some way or form. And he does not know what to do.

Mind you, I also cannot help but feel like there is at least a bit Claude Frollo that influenced the writing of Emmanuel. I mean: A priest, who dabbles in alchemy and dark magic, while falling in love with a woman from a travelling culture? Sounds a lot like Frollo. (And with that I mean: Someone please do an AMV to Hellfire. Thanks!)

[spectre777]

[disgruntledexplainer]

It's me. I'm the demographic Luce was made for.

[bluebell-lace]

🦢 our lady of sorrows 🕯

[livingdeadgrl666]

.🪦🦇

[charlesoberonn]

[ancientsstudies]

Toledo Cathedral by martina.ferrari.547.

[banishedchildofeve]

†

[whereserpentswalk]

Thing I made.

[aqours]

the takeaway i'm getting from the catholic church getting their own anime girl mascot is every other branch needs to jump on this asap. as a methodist i propose we get a goth anime girl mascot

[seraphim-eternal]

Not as the world gives do I give to you.

John 14:27

[dorrance30]

The Holy Spirit.

[spectre777]

[disgruntledexplainer]

I love how Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum can pretty much be summed up as "Yes, socialism is awful (here are quite a few paragraphs detailing exactly why), but MAYBE if you started TREATING YOUR WORKERS RIGHT, people would STOP TRYING TO IMPLEMENT IT".

[thegirlintheblackdress]

Joan of Arc in prayer, by Albert Lynch