The Pope As A Spiritual Place

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.

Growing up Catholic, I have always been fascinated by the Pope. This man is the head of my religion, so I was interested in learning the history behind the current Pope, Pope Francis, and his predecessors. I was also interested in finding out how the Pope’s role has changed over time and what each individual has done for the religion as a whole.

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.

The second theme elaborates the transition of power from God to the monarchs. This transition occurs through an intermediate institution that transfers divine power through religious mechanisms onto a political leadership. Divine power form God is transferred onto the Papacy that is given supreme authority and dominion over all men. St Peter is the first pope whose kingdom is centered in Rome form where he rules over all men: Gentiles, Jews, Christians and any other religious groups. The Papal lineage is established as the supreme power structure and all Popes that descend from St Peter are treated with the same respect and proclaimed as lord and king. One such pope is responsible for donating the lands of the Americas onto the King and

The roles of people in the church were redefined, as the Pope established himself clearly as a man of action, and not unreachable ‘God like’ figure. He did not submit to his power and instead worked together and worked for the people to make worshipping Christ more meaningful. The sacraments were developed to involve the congregation and improve the expression of Christian beliefs as the church was modernized and clericalism was removed.

Karol Józef Wojtyła, famously known as Pope John Paul II, was the Bishop of Rome and the pope of the Roman Catholic Church from October 1978 until his death on April 2005. As a pope, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries and the first Polish pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His papacy lasted for 27 years, which is to this day the second longest in history (Blakemore, 2017). He was also one of the most polarizing figures during the late twentieth century. Meanwhile, Pope John Paul II was more than just a pope because he had a different style of papal leadership, diplomacy, and a high charisma unlike his previous predecessors such as Pope Pius XII and Pope Paul VI (Scott, summer of 2000). Pope John Paul II transformed his influence as a pope to a worldwide office and used it to preach more than a billion of people across the globe. According to Scheller, Schaffer, Kurlantzick, Kulman, and Stille (2005), the pope was “a trained actor and philosopher who understood the power of word and symbol and wielded both with precision, whether in meetings with heads of state or before teeming crowds of the faithful (first paragraph).” John Paul II also believed that the church can have a much bigger impact by having world communications from different countries and he delivered the gospel by travelling around different parts of the world. The late pope was also well-known for inventing the World Youth Day, which is bringing about real transformation

Pope: The Pope is the bishop of Rome and the leader of the Western Church of Christianity. Pope comes from the word “papa” meaning father.

St. Peter not only set his foot within the heart of Rome, but he was granted the right to step his foot anywhere he pleased when spreading the word, it is our land because we devote ourselves—and like He has appointed St. Peter, he has appointed us to continue the work of the disciple: “…so also they have regarded the others who after him have been elected to the pontificate, and so has it been continued even till now, and will continue till the end of the world” (par. 3)

The Catholic Church believes that St. Peter was the chief Apostle, exercising by Christ's appointment the supreme power of governing His church. The priesthood was established by God among the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt. God chose the tribe of Levi as priests for the nation. Their primary duties were the offering of sacrifice and prayer for the people. Christ, in offering Himself up for the sins of all mankind, fulfilled the duties of the Old Testament priesthood once and for all. But just as the Eucharist makes that sacrifice present to us today, so the New Testament priesthood is sharing in the eternal priesthood of Christ. While all believers are,

The Pope was also known to have say on many decisions involving the king and the decisions they make. However, during the Early Renaissance the kings began to stray away from the church. This caused great political change as kings began to use the belief of divine right to their advantage. They now had the mindset that it doesn’t matter what the Pope says, it matters what God says. Kings used their new found power to appoint their own officials in the Church, weakening the Churches overall control over Western Europe.

Kings and queens need the pope’s help in times when they were weak or required aid like times of war with other leaders. The people needed the church in times of forgiveness and also when it was vital for them to get resources like food. The need of the nobles and the people allowed the Church to use all the political and social power they had and take control. Making who they want leaders and help only the people they find worthy. Due to this reality that is why there has always been an issue between the church and the state.

The catholic church played a massive part in the people's lives in medieval europe. The Pope was the head of the church and was entirely in control of the clerey. He also had a huge influence on the king as the king would run everything by the pope. He was seen as God’s representative on Earth.

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

People faced the rise and the fall of the Catholic Church during the medieval time. The Popes used to hold the final authority for the church and over the state. Pope Gregory VII asserted the Pope had granted the divine power from God because Saint Peter was the first of getting this