The Role of The Papacy: The Early Church to Present Day Essay

The wealthy Romans would pick popes who would help them curry favor and obtain political prominence, these popes cared more for their own virtues than the virtues of the church. This caused church's to acquire more power and funding, though the church did not stay this way forever. Pope Gregory VII

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.

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

emperor would eventually go along with the election of Severinus. Up to Gregory III the Pope had to

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

The Church had a lot of power over the government(OI). For example the church had so much power that the Code of Chivalry has rules that talk about the church. In the Code of Chivalry it states “Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches, and shalt observe all its directions”(Doc 5).The Code of Chivalry is important because that is the code the knights followed.That is how the politics of the Catholic Church influenced the Middle Ages of Rome.

The papacy assumed so much power in the 1200 because it had gained loyalty from a great amount of people for practical purposes.With a lot of people showing loyalty and trust towards the Papacy, it was able to expands its power over Europe. Since the papacy was the most influential and advanced government during its time it had “legislative power, law courts, bureaucracy, formal procedures, written records and considerable incomes from fees,

(http://www.thenagain.info) During the time there were two Popes who both claimed full authority over the Catholic Church and he people were divided they didn’t know whom to follow. King Philip did not like the pope elected after Pope Gregory XI died, Pope Gregory XII. (http://www.britannica.com) He was an Italian pope, King Philip decided to elect a Pope who ruled from Avignon, Pope Benedict XIII. (http://www.britannica.com)

Pope Innocent III began a sequence of changes that influenced the face of secular and ecclesiastical Europe through careful use of law and political manipulation. It has been remarked that the papacy acquired and retained the most power under the leadership of Pope Innocent III during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. I plan to examine sources primarily pertaining to the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and secondly to a collection of Innocent III’s papal letters. In my analysis, I hope to draw a correlation between Innocent III's actions and these actions influence on medieval society and why this period is considered to be the height of papal power since its inception.

In the void left by the collapse of the Roman Empire, the bishop of Rome grew even more in both power and prestige beginning in the sixth century and continuing to the reformation in the ninth century. It is the aim of this paper to explain how and why the papacy in Rome became the center of power of the medieval world, the factors contributing to this dominance over Western Europe, and the positive and negative ramifications of the position becoming so powerful. Through this paper you will discover how papacy was able to fill the vacuum of power left by the fall of an empire.

This law, rooted in religious teachings, regulated many facets of daily life, including morals and marriages. During the later Middle Ages, the law of Europe was governed by the Church. An entire jurisdiction was exercised by the church which protected the widows, orphans and helpless and also dealt with offenses. Popes of the Middle Ages eventually had a power over all rulers, even kings and emperors. The pope was the leader of a bureaucratic structure of churchgoing men in charge of church-related business. Based in Rome, the pope was the medieval Church's leader. Church leaders such as bishops and archbishops sat on the king's council and played leading roles in government. Bishops, who were often wealthy and came from noble families, ruled over groups of parishes. The Roman Catholic Church was the supreme power during the Middle Ages. It was the stabilizing force in everyday life which kept the community framework together. The laws and rules of the land, public policies and governance of the people were all affected by religion during the Middle Ages. Any attempt at threatening Christianity by other religions was met with force and all measures were taken to spread the religion in other parts of the

During the high Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church became organized into an elaborate hierarchy with the pope as the head in western Europe. He establish supreme power. Many innovations took place in the creative arts during the high Middle Ages. Literacy was no longer merely requirement among the clergy. New readings were addressed to a newly literate public that had both the time and the knowledge to enjoy the work.

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

The Pope was the supreme authority while there was an emperor who was second in the command. For example, Charlemagne served as the Roman emperor after being elevated to the position by Pope Leo III. The church became powerful in many aspects; the people were required to pay tithe to the church while there was exemption of the church from taxation. The church went to the levels of owning armies as well as cities in addition to playing a great role in the regulation of state affairs.

St. Leo the great has been called “the master builder of the papacy.” He is also considered one of the most important of the Western fathers of the Church he was also declared a “Doctor of the Church”. He put the idea of primacy of jurisdiction fully into practice. He passed away in 461 A.D. however there are 143 letters and 96 sermons that cover every season of the liturgical year that are still around to this