Essay on The Road of Joseph Ratzinger t Pope Ementus Benedict

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.

The essence of the contribution made by Pope John XXIII was his calling together of the Second Vatican Council that aimed to address modernisation of the Catholic Church,

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

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.

Pope John XXIII played a vital role in shaping Christianity as we know it today. He contributed socially, politically and liturgically and was a major influence in the establishment of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue between other churches and religions. He advocated Christian unity, social justice, human rights and the promotion of world peace, and his openness to all people led to him obtaining the name “Good Pope John”.

For over a period of seven hundred plus years, from Gregory the Great’s papacy to Boniface VIII’s papacy, the world experienced many influential popes, whose accomplishments changed the course of history. Many of these popes become known for both their positive accomplishments, which brought prosperity to their people, and for their failures, which in many cases led to their own death. Throughout the given time period, Pope Nicholas II, Pope Gregory VII, Pope Innocent III, and Pope Gregory IX, were all influential popes whose accomplishments are what they are most remembered for. First, Pope Nicholas II decreed that the College of Cardinals would obtain authority to choose the pope. The College of Cardinals was made up of a group of Roman Church officials who were in charge of electing the pope, which was put in place to prevent kings from selecting popes.

If we travel back to the year 1500, the Church (what we now call the Roman Catholic Church) was very powerful both politically and spiritually in Western Europe. For some time the Church was seen as an institution weighed down by internal power struggles. Popes and Cardinals often lived more like kings than spiritual leaders. Popes claimed political as well as spiritual power. They commanded armies, made political alliances and enemies, and, sometimes, even waged war.

After four months of deliberation, Lorenzo Corsini was chosen to be Pope Clement XII. The Cardinals thought

However, soon enough Gregory became involved in leading the Church, serving as chaplain to Pope Gregory VI. Gregory VI was removed from power with charges of simony, and was sent to Germany. Hildebrand followed and crossed the alps. His stay in Germany was of amazing educative value, and helped his ruling as pope in the future. In Cologne he pursued his studies and became aware of the circles of Lorraine where interest of the church and its life was at the top. Soon he returned to Rome and served as advisor to Pope Leo IX. With the death of Alexander II, Hildebrand became pope and took the name Gregory VII. His election was bitterly berated by his enemies. From the beginning Gregory tried to assert his authority over political leaders, and thus issued an order against lay investiture. This brought the controversy of the struggle between church authority and secular authority. It was questioned whether the king had final authority. A common belief was that was that kings were choosing bishops and abbots to benefit themselves and not the churches.This might not be entirely true; kings have been the origin of funds for churches. It only seems correct they should appoint who runs them. Kings wanted to show how if they didn`t provide the funds of the churches they wouldn't exist. So kings electing who is runs the

Kings, at the time, were appointing bishops to the Church. This was an act called lay investiture. Popes disagreed with this, they

Pope St. Gregory VII had his vision on how the Church was supposed to be structured and what needed to change. He firmly planted his beliefs because he could see that the Church did not live up to its standards. He became a leader when the Church needed him the most. He did not conform to the current state of the Church and encountered incessant obstacles with a relentless determination overcome them. As pope, St. Gregory VII valiantly confronted the challenges, social issues, and corruption of the Church to cleanse its noticeable defects.

On the tenth day after the pope’s death they were to assemble and remain absolutely locked away from the rest of the world in “conclave”. Cardinal's meetings with the pope were called consistories. The clergy worked to promote the people’s

Pope Francis is the present day spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, also known as the bishop of Rome or pontiff. He is the very first pope from Latin American, Argentina specifically, and is now known as the first pope ever that has addressed Congress. According to the guardian.com, Pope Francis, “electrified Congress with a call for action on climate change, immigration, poverty and capital punishment, laying down a challenge for the United States to transcend division and rediscover its ideals” (Carroll 1). He addressed these issues and drew a great interest from the audience for fifty-one minutes in the chamber of the House of Representatives.

Pope John Paul the Second It was recently this year that the Catholic world had lost its leader,

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