The Religious Roots of Propaganda

Hello,

Until very recently if you had challenged me to provide the roots of the word propaganda I would have guessed it came from some war, possibly earlier than you might think, maybe in the 1600s. Military words are often older than you’d expect as sadly human beings have been fighting each other for a very, very long time indeed.

If you’d then smiled and said, “Guess again, the Pope”, I would have been shocked. Yet, that’s exactly the source of propaganda.

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://wordfoolery.files.wordpress.c..." data-large-file="https://wordfoolery.files.wordpress.c..." src="https://wordfoolery.files.wordpress.c..." alt="" class="wp-image-4297" style="width:329px;height:auto" />Vatican from Above – Photo by Aliona & Pasha on Pexels.com

A committee of cardinals was formed in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV for spreading or propagating, the Catholic faith worldwide. It was called the Congregation of the Propaganda of Faith (Congretatio de Propaganda Fide, in Italian).

The word joined English in 1718 to describe this cardinal grouping, who concentrated their efforts on Catholic missionary work around the world. Its linguistic roots lie with the Latin verb propagare – to extend, spread, or increase. You can see this root also in the term propagation as used by gardeners about growing seeds or taking soft or hardwood cuttings from plants to grow new plants. I’ve softwood lavender cuttings in pots on my windowsill right now as I’m hoping to propagate new plants from them.

By the late 1700s propaganda was any movement to propagate a practice or idea. By World War I the term was used, in a positive sense, to describe the spreading of information to promote a political viewpoint. Since that time it has gained the additional idea of the information being potentially biased or misleading.

Nowadays the term is used for any association, publication, or scheme for influencing public opinion in religious, social, and political matters.

Until next time, happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

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