Gregory And Papacy Essay

The Pope is the head of the Church: he represents the ultimate religious authority. However, as a Bishop of Rome, the Pope is also in command of certain secular affairs, including some military aspects. Certainly, the Pope is a link between the earthly and the divine realms. Problems arise when the imperfect world the Pope physically lives in interferes with his heavenly objectives. Taking Pope Gregory I as an example, I am going to look at his letters to analyze how he reconciled his political and spiritual goals, whether he valued one category over the other, and how he justified it.

During the late 14th century and the early 15th century there was a great division in the Catholic Church. The Papacy was becoming blurred. The center of the Roman Catholic Church had been moved from Rome to the city of Avignon during the reign of Pope Clement V; and there was now a movement to return the center of power back to Rome. This movement was first truly seen under Pope Gregory XI and his successor Pope Urban VI. Earlier Pope Urban V had moved the center to Rome but it had been proven to be no more than a temporary idea; he had gone back to Avignon to die and there his replacement, Pope Gregory XI was elected . This along with other political problems and circumstances created a split in the loyalty among

The reigns of Gregory VII and Innocent III were remarkably similar in their attempts to exert ecclesiastic power over secular rulers. Gregory's outlook was characterized by his reformist behavior, supporting the notion of challenging the sacred character of kings. "Implicit in the concept of ‘lay investiture' was the idea that kings were layman. Yet kings were anointed, and in the eleventh century most people, including ecclesiastics, viewed royal consecration as akin to priestly ordination." Gregory intelligently avoided being named a radical, whereby he took a more complicated position: he did not comment directly on the status of kings, but he believed them semi-laymen, placing their rank below that of the minor clerical order and therefore not in a position to elect or invest bishops or other ecclesiastic officials. He articulated his beliefs through a decree, the Dictatus Papae, which succinctly and articulately stated his demands

Gregory was born during politically turbulent times in Europe. Economies suffered, agriculture waned, and a plague ravaged rural areas amidst Justinian’s reconquest of Italy (535–554). The bridges, aqueducts, and infrastructure of Rome degraded with age too. The Lombards held North Italy and less than a generation later, they seized Milan, and were threatening Rome. Even still, the Byzantine emperors, who were too far to protect Rome, demanded loyalty and taxes from the people of Italy from its imperial post at Ravenna. Gregory witnessed all of that turmoil which certainly would inspire his career and outlooks. Gregory came from a wealthy Roman family and as a young man he served as prefect of Rome (from 573). The Roman aristocracy which he would have known was losing faith in the power of Rome. Many looked instead to the Church’s message during times that many, including Gregory, viewed as apocalyptic. Gregory gave his property Italy and Sicily to the Church, converted his family mansion in Rome into a monastery, and lived there as a devoted and highly contemplative monk. These early experiences influenced Gregory and his subsequent development of the role of the papacy: “when I rose in contemplation above all changeable and decaying things, and thought of nothing but the things of heaven.” Gregory’s aristocratic background, preference for monasticism, and deep interest in eschatology pervaded his greatest contributions to role of the bishop of Rome by influencing his

The challenge thrown out by Gregory VII forced the emperors to seek new foundations for their position. Gregory’s great opponent, the emperor Henry IV, had still asserted the traditional rights of his father. His successors in the 12th century, Henry V (1106–25), Lothar II (1125–37), Frederick I Barbarossa (1152–90), and Henry VI (1190–97), shifted their ground. To counter the arguments of church lawyers they grasped the weapons provided by the revival of Roman law. A new and more exalted conception of the empire was the result. Best known was the addition by Frederick I Barbarossa, in 1157, of the word sacrum to the name of the empire, which then became the Sacrum Imperium (Holy Empire) as a counterbalance to the Sancta Ecclesia (Holy Church). Equally characteristic was the canonization of Charlemagne by Frederick’s antipope Paschal III in 1165. In this way Frederick emphasized continuity with the Frankish past and asserted his rights as Charlemagne’s successor. They derived, he argued, not from conferment by the pope or by the Roman people but from Frankish conquest.

threat. Thus Gregory was the first pope to act as temporal ruler of a part of

Avignon Papacy – During the Avignon Papacy time period, the Roman Catholic pope lived in Avignon, France; however, the pope usually resides in Rome. After the election of 1305, Frenchman Clement V moved the papal property to this city until 1378. Unfortunately, France experienced a costly affair with the new papal

In medieval times, religion played the central role of government over a kingdom. The bishops were the kings advisors and the church was responsible for schooling, land grants and partitions, marriages, developing soldiers for the Crusades and healing the sick or infirm. They also judged crimes. Classic philosophy during those times were heavily suppressed, Augustine being a prolific bastion that lead to the Dark Ages. It did not reemerge until the Renaissance began. During the Medieval period philosophical ideas were many times developed in the Christian church, led by the Pope. Indeed, you saw how Pope Gregory I promoted the importance of pilgrimages. The searching of one’s soul for answers became a focal point of many philosophers of this

In 1078, Gregory VII sent for Pope Urban II to come to Rome, and “he was made the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia.” Pope Urban II was sent as Papal

During the middle ages, early A.D. 590 Rome, undergone a substantial amount of struggle. According to Shelley (2008) as a result of many wars, floods, and the spread of the plague leading to large quantity of death, Rome became a wasteland; those who were left alive were distraught and confused (163). It was the Christian faith that restored hope and brought about “new order called Europe,” and “The church took the lead in rule by law, the pursuit of knowledge, and the expressions of culture” (p.162). It became known as the era of Christendom, as the church united its forces with the empire and popes ruled. As time passed, however, people began to see popes as corrupted by their authority over everything and everyone leading to revolts and

St. Gregory of Pontus, also known as St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, was the patron Saint of against natural disasters such as: earthquakes, desperate causes, floods, forgotten causes, impossible causes, lost causes. He was born in 213 and died in 270 in Neocaesarea, Pontus. His feast day is November 17. St. Pontus was born into a wealthy pagan family in Neocaesarea where Gregory studied law and the traditional Greek and Roman classics. The name given to him at birth was, Theodore, which means “gift of God.” St. Pontus parents wanted him to be a lawyer, so he and his brother planned to attend law school at Beirut, which is located in Lebanon. Their brother-in-law became an official in the government of Palestine, and before went to law school, they

The Avignon Papacy was a period of time in which the Roman capital of the Church was moved to Avignon, France. This move was symbolic of the French domination over the Catholic Church, both politically and economically. After Pope Boniface’s failure at the hands of King Philip and the death of his successor, the Catholic Conclave elected the French Archbishop Clement V as Pope. Clement refused to move to Rome so the papacy was moved to Avignon. The result of this move and the subsequent French-benefitting advancements was the Church losing most of their respect, while gaining the reputation of being corrupt, scheming, and materialistic.

The works of Bede in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People are shown through very insightful spirituality. Bede is greatly known for his reverence, and his knowledge in history. This reputation of his makes him notable in varieties of writings. Through my own understanding and reading, I was attracted to two characters introduced in Book I and II, Augustine of Canterbury and Pope Gregory the Great. Their dedication to the church was not only inspiring, but very fruitful towards the history of England. Bravery, inspiration, and change drove Pope Gregory the Great and Augustine to be influential people of their time. From this we can unveil history and use these accounts as our own inspiration.

as soon the Catholic Church receives a newly elected pope, it is assumed that they will take the seat of Peter and lead the Church through the issues the world is currently facing while enacting a global mission to combat future world problems. As each new pope comes in, they enter into the beginning of their reign with a different worldview and insight that influences the Catholic Church as a whole and determines the achievements that are to come out of their papacy. Since 1958, the Church has relied on six popes to help guide the world through the rocky transition into modern life. These popes are Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict, and Pope Francis. Each of these popes is responsible for the

Hi Jarred, thank you for your essay. I did like seeing how you described the Catholic Church’s defense for the papacy through their interpretation of the scripture. Furthermore, you described how the papacy was intended to bring the church together and be an office of unity within the church. Although, the original intent was for good it became corrupted over time with the innate desire within man to have power and control. I too agree with your statement that when the emperor of Rome left the city it left a vacuum of power and the only position that was in like a line of succession was the office of the papacy. The pope as the next most powerful political, spiritual, and social influence must have surely felt the need to step up to the plate