The Reformations of 1627

The Reformations of 1627 were a series of major liturgical and theological changes applied to the Caphiric Church twelve years after the beginning of the Great Schism of 1615. These changes introduced major divergences from the Catholic Church and introduced both the distinctiveness that the Imperial Church would take on as well as significant resistance within Caphiria to these changes.

Background

Between the Great Schism of 1615 and the late 1620s, the practice of the Catholic religion in Caphiria was basically unchanged, with the Imperial Church still retaining the recent counter-reformation Catechism as its basic teaching guide. The Church hierarchy was still in place, and a majority of pre-schism bishops had recognized the Schism. The Church also continued to use the 1570 Latin missal used throughout the rest of the Catholic Church, with the only alteration being the name of the sitting Imperator being used in place of the name of the sitting Pope during the Canon of the Mass. Accordingly, the new Imperial Church was divided largely into three factions. The "conservative" faction argued that the difference between Caphiria and the rest of the Church was regarding the political excesses of the Pope only, and that the centuries-old traditional practice of the faith should be preserved. The bishops of the Church were the primarily advocates of the conservative position. The "radical" faction argued that, now free of the Papacy and Urceopolis, the Church had to go further in purging all Urceopolitan innovations, and accordingly this faction argued for an embrace of reformed theology and a simplification of the liturgy to perceived Apostolic practice. The radicals were primarily made up of parish priests. Finally, the "national" faction argued that the Catholic Church had taken on a distinctly Urceopolitan character and that it must be replaced, rather than purged, with a distinctly Caphiric character. The national faction also argued a middle ground between the conservatives and the radicals, retaining most of the traditional liturgical practice and some basic theological points while introducing some reformed theology and Protestant readings of scripture. The nationals also more strongly believed in the authority of the state in the matters of the Church, not only for practical reasons but for theologcial ones as well. The national faction was initially the smallest faction and was primarily advocated for by priests and bishops immediately in the vicinity of Venceia.

The decade between the Schism and Reformations were characterized by bitter division between the three factions within the Church, with only the authority of the state preventing further schisms on several occasions in 1619 and 1621. The radical faction initially held the most influence within Imperial circles, but by 1622 most radicals had drawn the conclusion that state influence had lead to the corruption of Christianity, and they proposed a compromise position where believers would give "but their bodily allegiance" to the Imperator, but their "souls belong to naught but Christ." This position was determined to be treason in 1623, and the radicals were purged from the Church by 1624. The incident had lead Pius XII to personally begin investigating Church matters, believing the clerics were no longer capable of reaching a final solution for the Church. Many radicals who escaped criminal punishment began to embrace the national faction's position, and accordingly it became the largest faction. Unlike the period prior to the purges, the national faction and conservative faction did not share as deep an animosity, allowing the Imperial Church be in a position of relative calm and accommodation for Pius XII to begin his reform program in 1627. His reforms would accommodate both factions in some respects, especially the nationals due to their view of state power, but would also introduce many innovations of his own that had little previous support in the Church.