Gallicanism

Gallicanism is the belief that popular secular authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the pope. Gallicanism may be contrasted with ultramontanism. Gallicanism shares some similarities with the ecclesiology of Anglicanism, but while it plays down the authority of the Pope in church, it generally does not deny that there are some authoritative elements to the papal office as primus inter pares ('first among equals'). Other terms for the same or similar doctrines include Erastianism, Regalism, Febronianism, and Josephinism. Gallicanism originated in France (the term derives from Gallia, the Latin name of Gaul), and is unrelated to the first-millennium Catholic Gallican Rite. In the 18th century, it spread to the Low Countries, especially the Netherlands. The University of Notre Dame professor John McGreevy defines it as "the notion that national customs might trump Roman (Catholic Church) regulations."