A questão religiosa na 1.a República: a posição dos padres pensionistas

Abstract

The separation of the state from the churches was a direct consequence of the republican movement which brought about a laicization of conscience and culminated in the revolution of the 5th October 1910. In this way the new political order saw a division in the heart of the Portuguese Catholic church. On the one hand the bishopric and the majority of the lower clergy opposed the Republican régime. On the other hand a significant number of priests allowed themselves to be influenced by republicanism accepting the law of separation published by the minister of justice, Afonso Costa. The were the so called «pensionistas» priests who on becoming civil servants disobeyed both their bishops and Rome. Uneverly distributed in percentage terms throughout the land their attitude reflected the political contradictions and ideologies which characterized Portugal when the Republic first came into being.