Quietism is a heresy which is lesser known nowadays, but many of its effects are felt in the Church today in the attitude of “there’s nothing we can do”, when asked about the crisis in the Church. It postulates that in the spiritual life, passivity, suppressing human effort, is paramount over an active spiritual life.
In 1687, Pope Blessed Innocent XI has published the encyclical “Coelestis pastor”, in which he condemned 43 theses of the Spanish priest Miguel de Molinos, who was the founder of what became known as “quietism”.
Miguel de Molinos was born in 17th century Spain. He was ordained a priest and received a theology doctorate. His main work is the book “La Guía espiritual” (“The spiritual guide”), first published 1675 in Rome in Italian. In it, and in his other books, he explained his ideas on mysticism.
In the 1670s and 1680s, his books became somewhat popular, got translated into other languages, and were adopted by some monasteries.
He was accused of heresy and brought before the Inquisition, but he was able to defend himself at first. Later, however he was called to Rome in front of the Inquisition again, where his theses were condemned and he was sentenced to life in prison. He died in 1696.
Pope Blessed Innocent XI
The pope wrote in his “Coelestis pastor”:
“Recently it has been brought to the attention of our apostolic office that a certain Miguel de Molinos, under pretext of the prayer of quiet, but actually at variance with the teaching and practice of the holy fathers from the very beginnings, was teaching false doctrines by word and writings, and in practice was following them; these doctrines were leading the faithful from true religion and from the purity of Christian piety into terrible errors and every indecency.”
Here are some of the condemned theses, according to Coelestis pastor:
“1. It is necessary that man reduce his own powers to nothingness, and this is the interior way.”
“2. To wish to operate actively is to offend God, who wishes to be himself the sole agent; and therefore it is necessary to abandon oneself wholly in God and thereafter to continue in existence as an inanimate body.”
“3. Vows about doing something are impediments to perfection.”
“4. Natural activity is the enemy of grace, and impedes the operations of God and true perfection, because God wishes to operate in us without us.”
“5. By doing nothing the soul annihilates itself and returns to its beginning and to its origin, which is the essence of God, in which it remains transformed and divinized, and God then remains in himself, because then the two things are no more united, but are one alone, and in this manner God lives and reigns in us, and the soul annihilates itself in operative being.”
“8. He ought not to wish to know whether he is progressing according to the will of God, or whether or not with the same resigned will he stands still; nor is it necessary that he wish to know his own state or his own nothingness; but he ought to remain as an inanimate body.”
“9. The soul ought not to remember either itself, or God, or anything whatsoever, and in the interior life all reflection is harmful, even reflection upon its human actions and upon its own defects.”
“11. It is not necessary to reflect upon doubts as to whether one is proceeding rightly or not.”
“12. He who gives his own free will to God should care about nothing, neither about hell, nor about heaven; neither ought he to have a desire for his own perfection, nor for virtues, nor his own sanctity, nor his own salvation-the hope of which he ought to remove.”
“13. After our free will has been resigned to God, reflection and care about everything of our own must be left to that same God, and we ought to leave it to him, so that he may work his divine will in us without us.”
“14. It is not seemly that he who is resigned to the divine will, ask anything of God; because asking is an imperfection, since the act is of one’s own will and election, and this is wishing that the divine will be conformed to ours, and not that ours be conformed to the divine; and this from the Gospel: ‘Seek and you shall find,’ was not said by Christ for interior souls who do not wish to have free will; nay indeed, souls of this kind reach this state, that they cannot seek anything from God.”
“28. Weariness for spiritual matters is good, if indeed by it one’s own love is purified.”
These statements may sound familiar to those people who have lived through twelve years of Antipope “Francis” (Jorge Bergoglio) and paid attention to the events: the attitude of “there’s nothing we can do”.
Muniesa in Teruel province, Spain. This was the birthplace of Miguel de Molinos. Image by Fénix.707, CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0, here