Clericalism

A term denoting that which relates to clerics and the clergy. During the nineteenth century in Italy and France it was used to attack the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church to influence secular affairs unduly. Thus in 1877 Léon Gambetta coined the phrase Le cléricalisme, voilà l'ennemi! The term has also been used opprobriously to denigrate an excessive professionalism on the part of clergymen or their imitators.