Febronianism

thumb|right|200px|Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, who used the pseudonym "Febronius", after which Febronianism is named Febronianism was a powerful movement within the Catholic Church in Germany, in the latter part of the 18th century, directed towards nationalising Catholicism, restricting the power of the papacy in favour of the episcopate, and reunion of dissident churches with the Catholic Church. Its thrust broadly corresponded to that of Gallicanism in France. Friedrich Lauchert describes Febronianism, in the Catholic Encyclopedia, as a politico-ecclesiastical system, ostensibly purposed to facilitate reconciliation of Protestant entities with the Catholic Church by curbing the Holy See's power.

== Origin of name == The name is derived from the pseudonym Justinus Febronius adopted by Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, coadjutor bishop of Trier, in publishing his book ''''. Using Gallican principles imbibed from the canonist Zeger Bernhard van Espen at the University of Louvain, Hontheim moved to a radicalism far outstripping traditional Gallicanism. His theory of ecclesiastical organisation aimed to negate within the Catholic Church the unique authority vested in the bishop of Rome's administration. In 1738 Hontheim went to Koblenz, as an official to the Archbishop-Elector of Trier. Archbishops of Trier were simultaneously princes and prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. According to Walter Alison Phillips, writing in the Encyclopædia Britannica, he thereby had ample opportunity to observe how the internal affairs of the Holy Roman Empire were subject to the Roman Curia's meddling. This, most notably, was in negotiations preceding the elections, at which Hontheim assisted, of Holy Roman Emperors Charles VII and Francis I. On these two occasions, it appears, what had prompted his critically reviewing papal pretensions was the Papal Nuncio; his extreme claims and interference in matters before the Holy Roman Empire's electoral college. Hontheim published the results under his pseudonym. The book aroused considerable excitement and controversy at the time.