The Catholic Church

In the Middle Ages the church had its own social hierarchy structure in the Feudal system. This is very important because the church is considered the most powerful in the Feudal system. The church dominated everyone’s life. All the people in the Middle Ages believed that there was a God, Heaven and Hell. Since the beginning of Christianity they were taught the only way to get to Heaven is if the church let them. “The medieval church constituted a kind of second social system, sharing governmental authority with the feudal hierarchy and occasionally coming in conflict with secular lords” (Singman). The social hierarchy set up in the Middle Ages of the church consists of the pope at the top. Like explained earlier he is the most powerful person.

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

He proclaimed a jubilee year, in which thousands of pilgrims came to Rome, leaving massive amounts of money behind. Then the papacy began to unravel; Pope Boniface VIII excommunicated Philip IV, King of France, who in turn kidnapped the Pope and held him hostage. As a result of his captivity, Pope Boniface VIII died miserably. His successor, Benedict XI, lived for only a short while, and after his death the papal election was deadlocked. The College of the Cardinals finally elected Clement V, a Frenchman, as pope. He then moved to Avignon, which was essentially in France. Seven successive popes ruled out of Avignon; their reigns lasting almost 70 years. Pope Gregory XI then moved to Rome, ending the Avignon papacy. The College of Cardinals then selected Pope Urban VI as pope, but then they regretted it and elected another pope, Pope Clement VII, who moved back to Avignon. The rival popes and their successors continued to rule separately until Pope Martin V was elected by an ecunemiel council. The events of the 14th century weakened the papacy, and some started to see its hypocrisy. The stage was set for an attack on papal power, but not merely its temporal power, as before. The spiritual authority of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, was about to be under

Starting in the 12th century, many European countries like Italy were starting to give the pope a lot of power. This resulted in the popes becoming more powerful figures than most of the European counties princes. One example of this was with pope Gregory VII. He believed that he was one of the most

The investiture controversy was conflict between church and state. Those days, Henry was most powerful king in Europe, but Gregory willing to give him problems and wanted to dominate the state. Gregory was threatened the king, but the problem was that he was without any military power and this made him vulnerable. At that time bishops were important political figure and the main issue of conflict was bishop’s appointment because the Pope and the king both wanted to make bishops in their favor. Moreover, Pope decided to put an end to civil authority over the church. He declared only the church had the right to appoint, transfer, or remove bishops, but King began to appoint his own bishops.

Second, the church was a major political force. Therefore kings and queens wanted/needed papal approval like when they were somewhat weak, as in times of conflict. This allowed the Church to exercise political power as it could help to determine which claimants to a throne would be deemed acceptable.

Following the history of the catholic church shows us that not even they were perfect as they had many internal conflicts such as the Great schism and a distrust in the church due to them having a huge political influence around the late 1300’s to the 1400’s. Despite these problems the church managed to still become an important part of many christians life. Popes were part of this reason and some had

The Pope made a rule that the king cannot choose anyone from the clergy to be his vassal and the king did not want to abide by this rule. There was a election for the Bishopric for Milan which was very important to both the king and to the Pope but i different ways. They both got involved in the election. They both wanted their candidate to win so the king had the Pope deposed and he retaliated with excommunication of the king. This fight went on until a compromise between a new king and new Pope. The papal was now able to depose of the king should he wish. This conflict started the divide between the church and the king and led to the Crusades because they both got power hungry.

When one thinks about the Pope today, there is an image of an elderly man in robes who kisses babies, makes broad statements about the policies or beliefs of the church, and travels around the world meeting with the leaders of the world and the church. If one confers with Merriam-Webster, the word “pope” is defined as “the head of the Roman Catholic Church,” a definition that falls in line with the thoughts of many, perhaps even most, people today. For those who are familiar with the history of western civilization, the papacy is a newer development. The papacy and the Christian church are tightly aligned with the Roman Empire, but the Empire underwent a variety of changes and no longer exists, and yet, the Roman Catholic Church and its head are still intact. If the papacy and the church are “newer” developments in the grand scheme of western

The Avignon cardinals did the same when Pope Clement died, when they elected Benedict XIII. Trying to find a solution the University of Paris suggested that the two Popes should resign with judgment by a summoning of a general council. Pope Boniface IX died and another Roman Pope was elected, Innocent VII, and after him Gregory XII, both who promised to resign simultaneously with the French Pope but they never went through with it. Eventually cardinals from both Rome and Avignon abandoned their Popes and agreed to summon a great council to end the schism On March 28, 1409. Neither Pope showed up at this council meeting where they were both deposed as Pope on Jane 5, 1409. The cardinals of the council elected a new Pope, named Alexander and after his death John XXIII, which didn’t work because both Rome and Avignon Pope would officially step down from their

It took about four years of secret planning with Bishops and Cardinals before the Council assembled in 1869. For the first time, Bishops from countries outside Europe joined European Bishops at Vatican I. The main purpose of Vatican I was to define the Catholic doctrine, establish the Church beliefs and Papal infallibility, and denounce new ideas of the time such as rationalism, liberalism and materialism. Pope Pius IX called for an Ecumenical Council to implement papal authority and make clear Catholic beliefs which had come under attack by Enlightenment thinkers, for example, the first Vatican Council (Vatican I) began in 1869 at Saint Peter’s Basilica and was attended by almost seven hundred bishops and other church leaders. At Vatican I, the bishops officially proclaimed Papal infallibility, and raised the question of the authority of the bishops. Interruption by Italian troops meant that the authority of the bishops was not finalised until Vatican II in the

In the year 1378, the Roman Catholic Church became divided when the King of France decided to replace the current Italian Pope with one that he elected. During the Great Schism, there were two popes claiming authority over the Catholic Church. Following the split, the papal offices began to lose their authority. Ultimately, the cardinals of both popes decided that an ecumenical council of godly men could collectively possess more divine authority that just one pope. In 1409 at the council of Pisa, the church council was asked to elect a new pope that would unite the sides, meaning there would be three popes. Now, there was Pope Urban VI from Italy, Pope Clement VII from France, and the new member, Pope Alexander V. Neither the Roman or French popes were willing to give up their power, now creating a three way battle for the church’s authority. From 1414-1418, the Council of Constance was successful in healing the Schism, leading to the resignation of the Roman Pope. The schism was healed and there was room for an election of a single pope, Pope Martin V, who reigned from 1417-1431. The Great Schism of the West introduced a newly expanded authority for the general councils of the church.

With that being said, popes of the earlier years had to find a way to attain authority over the church. Pope

process gave the Pope large influence in the political arena. This ritual continued for a

In 308 AD, Emperor Theodosius made a declaration that Christianity officially be the religion of the Roman Empire. For Christianity to take hold in the region it needed to be normalized and made relatable to the people. Because of this the bishops created a chain of command so to speak within its leadership structure that would be known as the Patriarchs, with the bishop of Rome at the top, known as the Pope. The word pope comes from the Latin word meaning “father” which is why the Pope is also referred to as the Holy Father and it wasn’t until the eleventh century that Pope Gregory VIII began using the title of Pope.