Dr. John Rao discusses the confrontations between the Jesuits and the Jansenists over the relationship between grace and free will. (The developments that Dr. Rao discusses cover practically the entirety of the 1600's and 1700's. They very much involved repeated Jansenist-Jesuit confrontations over the relationship of grace and free will, as well as the value of spiritual and mystical ascents towards God as opposed to "practical" and "natural" ways of pleasing Him. Dr. Rao demonstrates how the attack on the Church became more and more politicized and helped to cause a desacralization of the French Monarchy already before 1789. Taken from: Regalism, Revolution, the Reign of Terror and the Assault on Catholicism (1648-1799) - 1998 VonHildebrand Institute