History of The Papacy

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History of the papacy

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For the history of the Catholic Church in general, see Timeline of the Catholic Church and
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The history of the papacy, the office held by the pope as
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head of the Roman Catholic Church, spans from the time
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of Peter to present day.
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During the Early Church, the bishops of Rome enjoyed no
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temporal power until the time of Constantine. After the fall
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of Rome (the "Middle Ages", about 476), the papacy was
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influenced by the temporal rulers of the surrounding Italian

Peninsula; these periods are known as the Ostrogothic
Papacy, Byzantine Papacy, and Frankish Papacy. Over
time, the papacy consolidated its territorial claims to a
portion of the peninsula known as the Papal States.
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Thereafter, the role of neighboring sovereigns was
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replaced by powerful Roman families during the saeculum
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obscurum, the Crescentii era, and the Tusculan Papacy.
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According to Catholic doctrine,

popes are successors to Saint Peter.
From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing

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From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing
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conflict with the leaders and churches of the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. The
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latter culminated in the EastWest Schism, dividing the Western Church and Eastern Church.
From 12571377, the pope, though the bishop of Rome, resided in Viterbo, Orvieto, and Perugia,
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and then Avignon. The return of the popes to Rome after the Avignon Papacy was followed by the
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Western Schism: the division of the western church between two and, for a time, three competing
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papal claimants.
Languages
The Renaissance Papacy is known for its artistic and architectural patronage, forays into
etina
European power politics, and theological challenges to papal authority. After the start of the
Deutsch
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Protestant Reformation, the Reformation Papacy and Baroque Papacy led the Catholic Church
through the Counter-Reformation. The popes during the Age of Revolution witnessed the largest
Portugus
expropriation of wealth in the church's history, during the French Revolution and those that
Suomi
followed throughout Europe. The Roman Question, arising from Italian unification, resulted in the
Ting Vit
loss of the Papal States and the creation of Vatican City.

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Contents [hide]
1 During the Roman Empire (until 493)
1.1 Early Christianity
1.2 From Constantine (312493)
2 Middle Ages (4931417)
2.1 Ostrogothic Papacy (493537)
2.2 Byzantine Papacy (537752)
2.3 Frankish influence (756857)
2.4 Influence of powerful Roman families (9041048)
2.5 Conflicts with the Emperor and East (10481257)
2.6 The wandering popes (12571309)
2.7 Avignon Papacy (13091377)
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2.8 Western Schism (13781417)

3 Early Modern and Modern Era (1417present)
3.1 Renaissance Papacy (14171534)
3.2 Reformation and Counter-Reformation (15171585)
3.3 Baroque Papacy (15851689)
3.4 During the Age of Revolution (17751848)
3.5 Roman Question (18701929)
3.6 From the creation of Vatican City (1929)
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
During the Roman Empire (until 493)

Early Christianity
[edit]
[edit]
Further information: Primacy of Simon Peter and Persecution of Christians in the Roman
Empire
Catholics recognize the pope as the successor to Saint Peter, whom Jesus designated as the
"rock" upon which the Church was to be built.[1][2] Although Peter never bore the title of "pope"
(Latin papa), Catholics recognize him as the first pope and Bishop of Rome,[3] because he had the
office, but not the title.[4] Official declarations of the Church speak of the popes as holding within
the college of the bishops a position analogous to that held by Peter within the college of the
Apostles, namely Prince of the Apostles, of which the college of the Bishops, a distinct entity, is the
successor.[5][6][7]
Protestants tend to deny that Peter and those claimed to be his immediate successors had
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universally recognized supreme authority over all the early churches. The same Protestants said
that Rome's prominence may be seen as only moral, not ecclesiastical, and that emergence of the
Roman pontiff to supreme power and prominence happened by natural circumstance rather than
divine appointment.[8]
Many popes in the first three centuries of the Christian era are obscure figures. Several suffered
martyrdom along with members of their flock in periods of persecution. Most of them engaged in
intense theological arguments with other bishops.
From Constantine (312493)
[edit]
Main article: Bishops of Rome under Constantine I

The legend surrounding Constantine I's victory in the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312) relates his vision of the
Chi Rho and the text in hoc signo vinces in the sky, and
reproducing this symbol on the shields of his troops. The
following year, Constantine and Licinius proclaimed the
toleration of Christianity with the Edict of Milan, and in 325
Constantine convened and presided over the First Council
of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council. None of this,
however, has particularly much to do with the pope, who
did not even attend the Council; in fact, the first bishop of
Raphael's The Baptism of

Constantine depicts Sylvester I instead
of his actual baptizer Eusebius of
Nicomedia, an Arian bishop.
Rome to be contemporaneously referred to as "pope"

(pappas) is Damasus I (36684).[9] Moreover, between 324
and 330, Constantine built Constantinople as a new capital for the empire, andwith no apologies
to the Roman community of Christiansrelocated key Roman families and translated many
Christian relics to the new churches he built from the ground up.[citation needed]
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The "Donation of Constantine", an 8th-century forgery used to enhance the prestige and authority
of popes, places the pope more centrally in the narrative of Constantinian Christianity. The legend
of the Donation claims that Constantine offered his crown to Sylvester I (31435), and even that
Sylvester baptized Constantine. In reality, Constantine was baptized (nearing his death in May
337) by Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian bishop, unlike the pope.[citation needed]
Although the "Donation" never occurred, Constantine did hand over the Lateran Palace to the
bishop of Rome, and began the construction of Old St. Peter's Basilica (the "Constantinian
Basilica").[citation needed] The gift of the Lateran probably occurred during the reign of Miltiades
(31114), Sylvester I's predecessor, who began using it as his residence.[citation needed] Old St.
Peter's was begun between 326 and 330 and took three decades to complete.
Middle Ages (4931417)

Ostrogothic Papacy (493537)
[edit]
[edit]
Main article: Ostrogothic Papacy

The Ostrogothic Papacy period ran from 493 to 537. The papal election of March 483 was the
first to take place without the existence of a Western Roman emperor. The papacy was strongly
influenced by the Ostrogothic Kingdom, if the pope was not outright appointed by the Ostrogothic
King. The selection and administration of popes during this period was strongly influenced by
Theodoric the Great and his successors Athalaric and Theodahad. This period terminated with
Justinian I's (re)conquest of Rome during the Gothic War, inaugurating the Byzantine Papacy
(537752).
The role of the Ostrogoths became clear in the first schism, when, on November 22, 498, two men
were elected pope. The subsequent triumph of Pope Symmachus (498514) over Antipope
Laurentius is the first recorded example of simony in papal history.[10] Symmachus also instituted
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the practice of popes naming their own successors, which held until an unpopular choice was
made in 530, and discord only ended with the selection in 532 of John II, the first to rename himself
upon succession.[citation needed]
Theodoric was tolerant towards the Catholic Church and did not interfere in dogmatic matters. He
remained as neutral as possible towards the pope, though he exercised a preponderant influence
in the affairs of the papacy.[11] Ostrogothic influence ended with the reconquest of Rome by
Justinian, who had had pro-Gothic Pope Silverius (536537) deposed and replaced with his own
choice, Pope Vigilius (537555).
Byzantine Papacy (537752)
[edit]
Main articles: Byzantine Papacy and Papal States

The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine
domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes
required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for
episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen
from the apocrisiarii (liaisons from the pope to the
emperor) or the inhabitants of Byzantine Greece, Syria, or
Sicily. Justinian I conquered the Italian peninsula in the
Gothic War (53554) and appointed the next three popes,
a practice that would be continued by his successors and
later be delegated to the Exarchate of Ravenna.
With the exception of Pope Martin I, no pope during this
period questioned the authority of the Byzantine monarch
to confirm the election of the bishop of Rome before
consecration could occur; however, theological conflicts
Justinian I re-conquered Rome and
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consecration could occur; however, theological conflicts
appointed the next three popes.
were common between pope and emperor in the areas

such as monotheletism and iconoclasm. Greek speakers
from Greece, Syria, and Byzantine Sicily replaced members of the powerful Roman nobles in the
papal chair during this period. Rome under the Greek popes constituted a "melting pot" of Western
and Eastern Christian traditions, reflected in art as well as liturgy.
Pope Gregory I (590604) was a major figure in asserting papal primacy and gave the impetus to
missionary activity in northern Europe, including England.
The Duchy of Rome was a Byzantine district in the Exarchate of Ravenna, ruled by an imperial
functionary with the title dux. Within the exarchate, the two chief districts were the country about
Ravenna where the exarch was the centre of Byzantine opposition to the Lombards, and the
Duchy of Rome, which embraced the lands of Latium north of the Tiber and of Campania to the
south as far as the Garigliano. There the pope himself was the soul of the opposition.
The pains were taken, as long as possible, to retain control of the intervening districts and with
them communication over the Apennine mountains. In 728 the Lombard King Liutprand took the
Castle of Sutri, on the road to Perugia, but restored it to Pope Gregory II "as a gift to the blessed
Apostles Peter and Paul". The popes continued to acknowledge the imperial Government.
In 738 the Lombard duke Transamund of Spoleto captured the Castle of Gallese, which protected
the road to Perugia. By a large payment Pope Gregory III induced the duke to restore the castle to
him.
Frankish influence (756857)
[edit]
Main article: Frankish Papacy

In 751, Aistulf took Ravenna and threatened Rome. In response to this threat, Pope Stephen II
made an unusual journey north of the Alps to visit the Frankish king, Pepin III, to seek his help
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made an unusual journey north of the Alps to visit the Frankish king, Pepin III, to seek his help
against the invading Lombards.
The pope anointed Pepin at the abbey of St Denis, near Paris, together with Pepin's two young
sons Charles and Carloman. Pepin duly invaded northern Italy in 754, and again in 756. Pepin was
able to drive the Lombards from the territory belonging to Ravenna but he did not restore it to its
rightful owner, the Byzantine emperor. Instead, perhaps accepting the validity of the Donation of
Constantine, he handed over large areas of central Italy to the pope and his successors.
The land given to pope Stephen in 756, in the so-called Donation of Pepin, made the papacy a
temporal power and for the first time created an incentive for secular leaders to interfere with papal
succession. This territory would become the basis for the Papal States, over which the popes ruled
until the Papal States were incorporated into the new Kingdom of Italy in 1870. For the next eleven
centuries, the story of Rome would be almost synonymous with the story of the papacy.
The Lombard kingdom reached its height in the 7th and 8th century. Paganism and Arianism were
at first prevalent among the Lombards but were gradually supplanted by Catholicism. Roman
culture and Latin speech were gradually adopted and the Catholic bishops emerged as chief
magistrates in the cities. Lombard law combined Germanic and Roman traditions. After Aistulf's
death King Desiderius renewed the attack on Rome. In 772, Pope Adrian I enlisted the support of
Charlemagne, Pepin's successor, who intervened, and, after defeating the Lombards, added their
kingdom to his own.
After being physically attacked by his enemies in the streets of Rome, Pope Leo III made his way in
799 through the Alps to visit Charlemagne at Paderborn.
It is not known what was agreed between the two, but Charlemagne traveled to Rome in 800 to
support the pope. In a ceremony in St Peter's Basilica, on Christmas Day, Leo was supposed to
anoint Charlemagne's son as his heir. But unexpectedly (it is maintained), as Charlemagne rose
from prayer, the pope placed a crown on his head and acclaimed him emperor. It is reported that
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Charlemagne expressed displeasure but nevertheless accepted the honour. The displeasure was
probably diplomatic, for the legal emperor was supposed to be seated in Constantinople.
Nevertheless this public alliance between the pope and the ruler of a confederation of Germanic
tribes was a reflection of the reality of political power in the west. This coronation launched the
concept of the new Holy Roman Empire which would play an important role throughout the Middle
Ages. The Holy Roman Empire only became formally established in the next century. But the
concept is implicit in the title adopted by Charlemagne in 800: 'Charles, most serene Augustus,
crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman empire.'
Influence of powerful Roman families (9041048)
[edit]
Main articles: Saeculum obscurum, Crescentii and Tusculan Papacy

The period beginning with the installation of Pope Sergius III in 904 and lasting for sixty years until
the death of Pope John XII in 964 is sometimes referred to as Saeculum obscurum or the "dark
age." Historian Will Durant refers to the period from 867 to 1049 as the "nadir of the papacy".[12]
During this period, the popes were controlled by a powerful and corrupt aristocratic family, the
Theophylacti, and their relatives.[13]
Conflicts with the Emperor and East (10481257)
[edit]
Main article: History of the papacy (10481257)

The Imperial crown once held by the Carolingian emperors was disputed between their fractured
heirs and local overlords; none emerged victorious until Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor invaded Italy.
Italy became a constituent kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire in 962, from which point the
emperors were German. As emperor's consolidated their position, northern Italian city-states would
become divided by Guelphs and Ghibellines. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor found three rival
popes when he visited Rome in 1048 because of the unprecedented actions of Pope Benedict IX.
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He deposed all three and installed his own preferred candidate: Pope Clement II.
The history of the papacy from 1048 to 1257 would continue to be marked by conflict between
popes and the Holy Roman Emperor, most prominently the Investiture Controversy, a dispute over
whopope or emperorcould appoint bishops within the Empire. Henry IV's Walk to Canossa in
1077 to meet Pope Gregory VII (107385), although not dispositive within the context of the larger
dispute, has become legendary. Although the emperor renounced any right to lay investiture in the
Concordat of Worms (1122), the issue would flare up again.
Long-standing divisions between East and West also came to a head in the EastWest Schism
and the Crusades. The first seven Ecumenical Councils had been attended by both Western and
Eastern prelates, but growing doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political and geographic differences
finally resulted in mutual denunciations and excommunications. Pope Urban II (108899) speech at
the Council of Clermont in 1095 became the rallying cry of the First Crusade.
Unlike the previous millennium, the process for papal selection became somewhat fixed during this
period. Pope Nicholas II promulgated In nomine Domini in 1059, which limited suffrage in papal
elections to the College of Cardinals. The rules and procedures of papal elections evolved during
this period, laying the groundwork for the modern papal conclave. The driving force behind these
reforms was Cardinal Hildebrand, who later became Gregory VII.
The wandering popes (12571309)
[edit]
Main articles:
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Main articles:
Viterbo
Papacy,
Orvieto
Papacy and
Perugia
Papacy
The pope is the
bishop of Rome,
The papal palace in Viterbo...
...and Orvieto
but nowhere is it
written that he
has to stay there (in fact, only 200 years prior, cardinals would have been required to reside in
Rome). Political instability in thirteenth-century Italy forced the papal court to move to several
different locations. Destinations included Viterbo, Orvieto, and Perugia. The popes brought the
Roman Curia with them, and the College of Cardinals met in the city where the last pope had died
to hold papal elections. Host cities enjoyed a boost to their prestige and certain economic
advantages, but the municipal authorities risked being subsumed into the administration of the
Papal States if they allowed the pope to overstay his welcome.
According to Eamon Duffy, "aristocratic factions within the city of Rome once again made it an
insecure base for a stable papal government. Innocent IV was exiled from Rome and even Italy for
six years, and all but two of the papal elections of the thirteenth century had to take place outside
Rome. The skyline of Rome itself was now dominated by the fortified war-towers of the aristocracy
(a hundred were built in Innocent IV's pontificate alone) and the popes increasingly spent their time
in the papal palaces at Viterbo and Orvieto."[14]
Avignon Papacy (13091377)

[edit]
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Main article: Avignon Papacy

During this period, seven popes, all French, resided in
Avignon starting in 1309: Pope Clement V (130514),
Pope John XXII (131634), Pope Benedict XII (133442),
Pope Clement VI (134252), Pope Innocent VI (135262),
Pope Urban V (136270), Pope Gregory XI (137078). In
The Palais des Papes in Avignon
1378, Gregory XI moved the papal residence back to

Rome and died there.
Western Schism (13781417)
[edit]
Main article: Western Schism

After seventy years in France the papal curia was naturally
French in its ways and, to a large extent, in its staff. Back
in Rome some degree of tension between French and
Italian factions was inevitable. This tension was brought to
a head by the death of the French pope Gregory XI within
a year of his return to Rome. The Roman crowd, said to be
in threatening mood, demanded a Roman pope or at least
an Italian one. In 1378 the conclave elected an Italian from
Naples, Pope Urban VI. His intransigence in office soon
alienated the French cardinals. And the behaviour of the
The division of European

allegiances at a point during the
Western Schism
Roman crowd enabled them to declare, in retrospect, that

his election was invalid, voted under duress.
The French cardinals withdrew to a conclave of their own, where they elected one of their number,
Robert of Geneva. He took the name Clement VII. By 1379, he was back in the palace of popes in
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Avignon, while Urban VI remained in Rome.

This was the beginning of the period of difficulty from 1378 to 1417 which Catholic scholars refer to
as the "Western Schism" or, "the great controversy of the antipopes" (also called "the second
great schism" by some secular and Protestant historians), when parties within the Catholic Church
were divided in their allegiances among the various claimants to the office of pope. The Council of
Constance, in 1417, finally resolved the controversy.
For nearly forty years the Church had two papal curias and two sets of cardinals, each electing a
new pope for Rome or Avignon when death created a vacancy. Each pope lobbied for support
among kings and princes who played them off against each other, changing allegiance when
according to political advantage.
In 1409 a council was convened at Pisa to resolve the issue. The council declared both existing
popes to be schismatic (Gregory XII from Rome, Benedict XIII from Avignon) and appointed a new
one, Alexander V. But the existing popes had not been persuaded to resign so the church had
three popes.
Another council was convened in 1414 at Constance. In March 1415 the Pisan pope, John XXIII,
fled from Constance in disguise; he was brought back a prisoner and deposed in May. The Roman
pope, Gregory XII, resigned voluntarily in July.
The Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, refused to come to Constance. In spite of a personal visit from
the emperor Sigismund, he would not consider resignation. The council finally deposed him in July
1417. Denying their right to do so, he withdrew to an impregnable castle on the coast of Spain.
Here he continued to act as pope, creating new cardinals and issuing decrees, until his death in
1423.
The council in Constance, having finally cleared the field of popes and antipopes, elected Pope
Martin V as pope in November.
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Early Modern and Modern Era (1417present)

Renaissance Papacy (14171534)
[edit]
[edit]
Main article: Renaissance Papacy

From the election of Pope Martin V of the Council of
Constance in 1417 to the Reformation, Western
Christianity was largely free from schism as well as
significant disputed papal claimants. Martin V returned the
papacy to Rome in 1420. Although there were important
divisions over the direction of the religion, these were
resolved through the then-settled procedures of the papal
conclave.
Unlike their European peers, popes were not hereditary
monarchs, so they could only promote their family interests
through nepotism.[15] The word nepotism originally referred
specifically to the practice of creating cardinal-nephews,
when it appeared in the English language about 1669.[16]
According to Duffy, "the inevitable outcome of all of this
was a creation of a wealthy cardinalatial class, with strong
dynastic connections."[17] The College was dominated by
Pope Leo X with his cousins Giulio

de' Medici (left, the future Pope Clement
VII) and Luigi de' Rossi (right), whom
he appointed as cardinal-nephews.
cardinal-nephewsrelatives of the popes that elevated

them, crown-cardinalsrepresentatives of the Catholic
monarchies of Europe, and members of the powerful Italian families. The wealthy popes and
cardinals increasingly patronized Renaissance art and architecture, (re)building the landmarks of
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Rome from the ground up.

The Papal States began to resemble a modern nation state during this period, and the papacy
took an increasingly active role in European wars and diplomacy. Pope Julius II become known as
"the Warrior Pope" for his use of bloodshed to increase the territory and property of the
papacy.[18] The popes of this period used the papal military not only to enrich themselves and their
families, but also to enforce and expand upon the longstanding territorial and property claims of
the papacy as an institution.[19] Although, before the Western Schism, the papacy had derived
much of its revenue from the "vigorous exercise of its spiritual office," during this period the popes
were financially dependent on the revenues from the Papal States themselves. With ambitious
expenditures on war and construction projects, popes turned to new sources of revenue from the
sale of indulgences and bureaucratic and ecclesiastical offices.[20] Pope Clement VII's diplomatic
and military campaigns resulted in the Sack of Rome in 1527.[21]
Popes were more frequently called upon to arbitrate disputes between competing colonial powers
than to resolve complicated theological disputes. Columbus' discovery in 1492 upset the unstable
relations between the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile, whose jockeying for possession of
colonial territories along the African coast had for many years been regulated by the papal bulls of
1455, 1456, and 1479. Alexander VI responded with three bulls, dated May 3 and 4, which were
highly favorable to Castile; the third Inter caetera (1493), awarded Spain the sole right to colonize
most of the New World.
According to Eamon Duffy, "the Renaissance papacy invokes images of a Hollywood spectacular,
all decadence and drag. Contemporaries viewed Renaissance Rome as we now view Nixon's
Washington, a city of expense-account whores and political graft, where everything and everyone
had a price, where nothing and nobody could be trusted. The popes themselves seemed to set the
tone."[17] For example, Leo X was said to have remarked: "Let us enjoy the papacy, since God has
given it to us."[15] Several of these popes took mistresses and fathered children and engaged in
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intrigue or even murder.[17] Alexander VI had four acknowledged children: Cesare Borgia, Lucrezia
Borgia, Gioffre Borgia, and Giovanni Borgia.
Reformation and Counter-Reformation (15171585)
[edit]
Main article: Reformation Papacy
Baroque Papacy (15851689)
[edit]
The pontificate of Pope Sixtus V (15851590) opened up the final stage of the Catholic
Reformation, characteristic of the Baroque age of the early seventeenth century, shifting away
from compelling to attracting. His reign focused on rebuilding Rome as a great European capital
and Baroque city, a visual symbol for the Catholic Church.
During the Age of Revolution (17751848)
[edit]
Main article: Popes during the Age of Revolution
Roman Question (18701929)
[edit]
Main article: Roman Question

The provisional capital of Italy had been Florence since
1865. After defeating the papal forces in 1870, the Italian
government moved to the banks of the Tiber a year later.
Victor Emmanuel installed himself in the Quirinal Palace.
Rome became once again, for the first time in thirteen
centuries, the capital city of a united Italy. Rome was
unusual among capital cities only in that it contained the
power of the pope and a small parcel of land (Vatican City)
The breach of the Porta Pia during

the Capture of Rome
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beyond national control. This anomaly was not formally
the Capture of Rome
resolved until the Lateran pacts of 1929.

The last eight years of his long pontificate the longest in Church history Pope Pius IX spent as
prisoner of the Vatican. Catholics were forbidden to vote or being voted in national elections.
However, they were permitted to participate in local elections, where they achieved successes.[22]
Pius himself was active, during those years, by creating new diocesan seats and appointing
bishops to numerous dioceses, which had been unoccupied for years. Asked if he wanted his
successor to follow his Italian policies, the old pontiff replied:
My successor may be inspired by my love to the Church and my wish to do the right
thing. Everything changed around me. My system and my policies had their time, I am
too old to change direction. This will be the task of my successor.[23]
Pope Leo XIII, considered a great diplomat, managed to improve relations with Russia, Prussia,
German France, England and other countries. However, in light of a hostile anti-Catholic climate in
Italy, he continued the policies of Pius IX towards Italy, without major modifications.[24] He had to
defend the freedom of the Church against Italian persecutions and attacks in the area of
education, expropriation and violation of Catholic Churches, legal measures against the Church
and brutal attacks, culminating in anticlerical groups attempting to throw the body of the deceased
Pope Pius IX into the Tiber river on July 13, 1881.[25] The pope even considered moving the
papacy to Trieste or Salzburg, two cities under Austrian control, an idea which the Austrian
monarch Franz Josef I gently rejected.[26]
His encyclicals changed Church positions on relations with temporal authorities, and, in the 1891
encyclical Rerum novarum addressed for the first time social inequality and social justice issues
with Papal authority. He was greatly influenced by Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, a German
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bishop who openly propagated siding with the suffering working classes[27] Since Leo XIII, Papal
teachings expand on the right and obligation of workers and the limitations of private property:
Pope Pius XI Quadragesimo anno, the Social teachings of Pope Pius XII on a huge range of social
issues, John XXIII Mater et magistra in 1961, Pope Paul VI, the encyclical Populorum progressio on
World development issues, and Pope John Paul II, Centesimus annus, commemorating the 100th
anniversary of Rerum novarum of Pope Leo XIII.
The eclipse of papal temporal power during the 19th century was accompanied by a recovery of
papal prestige. The monarchist reaction in the wake of the French Revolution and the later
emergence of constitutional governments served alike, though in different ways, to sponsor that
development. The reinstated monarchs of Catholic Europe saw in the papacy a conservative ally
rather than a jurisdictional rival. Later, when the institution of constitutional governments broke the
ties binding the clergy to the policies of royal regimes, Catholics were freed to respond to the
renewed spiritual authority of the pope.
The popes of the 19th and 20th centuries exercised their spiritual authority with increasing vigor
and in every aspect of religious life. By the crucial pontificate of Pope Pius IX (18461878), for
example, papal control over worldwide Catholic missionary activity was firmly established for the
first time in history.
From the creation of Vatican City (1929)
[edit]
Further information: Vatican City

The pontificate of Pope Pius XI was marked by great
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The pontificate of Pope Pius XI was marked by great

diplomatic activity and the issuance of many important
papers, often in the form of encyclicals. In diplomatic
affairs, Pius was aided at first by Pietro Gasparri and after
1930 by Eugenio Pacelli (who succeeded him as Pope Pius
XII). Cardinal Gasparri's masterpiece was the Lateran
Treaty (1929), negotiated for the Vatican by Francesco
Pacelli. Nevertheless, the Fascist government and the
pope were in open disagreement over the restriction of
youth activities; this culminated in a strong papal letter
(Non abbiamo bisogno, 1931), arguing the impossibility of
A map of Vatican City, as

established by the Lateran Treaty
(1929)
being at once a Fascist and a Catholic. Relations between

Mussolini and the Holy See were cool ever after.
Negotiations for the settlement of the Roman Question began in 1926 between the government of
Italy and the Holy See, and in 1929 they culminated in the agreements of the three Lateran Pacts,
signed for King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini and for Pope Pius XI
by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri in the Lateran Palace (hence the name by which
they are known).
The Lateran Treaty included a political treaty, which created the state of the Vatican City and
guaranteed full and independent sovereignty to the Holy See. The pope was pledged to perpetual
neutrality in international relations and to abstention from mediation in a controversy unless
specifically requested by all parties. The concordat established Catholicism as the religion of Italy.
And the financial agreement was accepted as settlement of all the claims of the Holy See against
Italy arising from the loss of temporal power in 1870.
A national concordat with Germany was one of Pacelli's main objectives as secretary of state. As
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nuncio during the 1920s, he had made unsuccessful attempts to obtain German agreement for
such a treaty, and between 1930 and 1933 he attempted to initiate negotiations with
representatives of successive German governments, but the opposition of Protestant and Socialist
parties, the instability of national governments and the care of the individual states to guard their
autonomy thwarted this aim. In particular, the questions of denominational schools and pastoral
work in the armed forces prevented any agreement on the national level, despite talks in the winter
of 1932.[28][29]
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933 and sought to gain international
respectability and to remove internal opposition by representatives of the Church and the Catholic
Centre Party. He sent his vice chancellor Franz von Papen, a Catholic nobleman and former
member of the Centre Party, to Rome to offer negotiations about a Reichskonkordat.[30] On behalf
of Cardinal Pacelli, his long-time associate Prelate Ludwig Kaas, the out-going chairman of the
Centre Party, negotiated first drafts of the terms with Papen.[31] The concordat was finally signed,
by Pacelli for the Vatican and von Papen for Germany, on 20 July and ratified on September 10,
1933.[32]
Between 1933 to 1939, Pacelli issued 55 protests of violations of the Reichskonkordat. Most
notably, early in 1937, Pacelli asked several German cardinals, including Cardinal Michael von
Faulhaber to help him write a protest of Nazi violations of the Reichskonkordat; this was to become
Pius XI's encyclical Mit brennender Sorge. The encyclical, condemning the view that "exalts race,
or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State ... above their standard value and divinizes
them to an idolatrous level", was written in German instead of Latin and read in German churches
on Palm Sunday 1937.[33]
World War II (19391945) [edit]
Main articles: Vatican City during World War II and Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust
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When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, the Vatican declared neutrality to avoid
being drawn into the conflict and also to avoid occupation by the Italian military. In 1944, the
German Army occupied Rome. Adolf Hitler proclaimed that he would respect Vatican neutrality.
However, several incidents, such as giving aid to downed Allied airmen, nearly caused Nazi
Germany to invade the Vatican. Rome was liberated by the Allies after several months of
occupation.
The Church policies after World War II of Pope Pius XII focused on material aid to war-torn Europe
with its 15 million displaced persons and refugees, an internal internationalization of the Roman
Catholic Church, and the development of its worldwide diplomatic relations. His encyclical Evangelii
praecones[34] increased the local decision-making of Catholic missions, many of which became
independent dioceses. Pius XII demanded recognition of local cultures as fully equal to European
culture.[35][36] He internationalized the College of Cardinals by eliminating the Italian majority and
appointed cardinals from Asia, South America and Australia. In Western Africa[37] Southern
Africa[38] British Eastern Africa, Finland, Burma and French Africa Pope Pius established
independent dioceses in 1955.
While after years of rebuilding the Church thrived in the West and most of the developing world, it
faced most serious persecutions in the East. Sixty million Catholics came under Soviet dominated
regimes in 1945, with tens of thousands of priests and religious killed, and millions deported into
Soviet and Chinese Gulags. The communist regimes in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and China
practically eradicated the Roman Catholic Church in their countries[39]
From Vatican II (1962present) [edit]
Further information: Second Vatican Council
The continuing strength of the forces within the church
favoring theological innovation and energetic reform
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became unmistakably evident at the Second Vatican

Council, convened by Pope John XXIII (19581963), and
found expression especially in its decrees on ecumenism,
religious liberty, the liturgy, and the nature of the church.
The ambivalence of some of those decrees, however, and
the disciplinary turmoil and doctrinal dissension following
The opening of the Second Session

of the Second Vatican Council
the ending of the council, brought about new challenges to

papal authority.
On October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. The 21st
ecumenical council of the Catholic Church emphasized the universal call to holiness and brought
many changes in practices, including an increased emphasis on ecumenism; fewer rules on
penances, fasting and other devotional practices; and initiating a revision of the services, which
were to be slightly simplified and made supposedly more accessible by allowing the use of native
languages instead of Latin. Opposition to changes inspired by the Council gave rise to the
movement of Traditionalist Catholics who disagree with changing the old forms of worship.
On December 7, 1965, a Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of His Holiness Pope Paul VI and the
Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I lifted the mutual excommunication against Catholic and
Orthodox which had been in force since the Great Schism of 1054.
The bishops agreed that the pope exercises supreme authority over the church, but defined
"collegiality", meaning that all bishops share in this authority. Local bishops have equal authority
as successors of the Apostles and as members of a larger organization, the Church founded by
Jesus Christ and entrusted to the apostles. The pope serves as a symbol of unity and has
additional authority to ensure the continuation of that unity. During the Second Vatican Council,
Catholic bishops drew back a bit from statements which might anger Christians of other faiths.[40]
Cardinal Augustin Bea, the President of the Christian Unity Secretariat had always the full support
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of Pope Paul VI in his attempts to ensure that the Council language is friendly and open to the
sensitivities of Protestant and Orthodox Churches, whom he had invited to all sessions at the
request of Pope John XXIII. Bea also was strongly involved in the passage of Nostra aetate, which
regulates relation of the Church with the Jewish faith and members of other religions[41]
The establishment of national conferences of bishops tended to erode papal authority to some
degree, and Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968), reaffirming the prohibition of artificial
birth control, was met with both evasion and defiance in the USA and Western Europe but warmly
welcomed in South America, Eastern and Southern Europe.[42]
Pope Paul VI (19631978), however, continued the ecumenical efforts of Pope John XXIII in his
contacts with Protestant and Orthodox churches. He also continued John XXIII's attempts to make
discreet moves in the direction of pragmatic accommodation with the Communist regimes of
eastern Europe, a policy that were possible in the eras of Krushchev and Brezhnev. Paul VI also
reorganized the curia and spoke strongly for peace and social justice.
Pope Paul VI faced criticism throughout his papacy from both traditionalists and liberals for
steering a middle course during Vatican II and in the course of the implementation of its reforms
thereafter.[43] His passion for peace during the Vietnam War was not understood by all. The urgent
task of overcoming World poverty and start real development resulted partly in benign neglect of
papal teachings by the influential and the rich. On basic Church teachings, this pope was
unwavering. On the tenth anniversary of Humanae Vitae, he strongly reconfirmed his teachings.[44]
In his style and methodology, he was a disciple of Pius XII, whom he deeply revered.[45] He suffered
under the attacks of his predecessor for his alleged silences, knowing from personal association
with the late pope the real concerns and compassion of Pius XII.[45] Pope Paul is not credited to
have had the encyclopaedic culture of Pius XII, nor his phenomenal memory, his amazing gift for
languages, his brilliant style in writing,[46] nor did he have the Charisma and outpouring love,
sense of humor and human warmth of John XXIII. He took on himself the unfinished reform work of
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these two popes, bringing them diligently with great humility and common sense and without much
fanfare to conclusion.[44] In doing so, Paul VI saw himself following in the footsteps of the Apostle
Paul, torn to several directions as Saint Paul, who always said, I am attracted to two sides at once,
because the Cross always divides.[47]
He became the first pope to visit all five continents.[48] Paul VI systematically continued and
completed the efforts of his predecessors, to turn the Euro-centric Church into a Church for the
whole world, by integrating the bishops from all continents in its government and in the Synods
which he convened. His August 6, 1967 Motu Proprio Pro Comperto Sane opened the Roman
Curia to the bishops of the world. Until then, only Cardinals could be leading members of the
Curia.[48]
An inner joy seems to have been a characteristic of Paul VI. His confessor, the Jesuit Paolo Dezza
arrived at the Vatican every Friday evening at seven p.m. to hear confession of Paul VI. The only
words he ever spoke about his long service to Paul VI during his pontificate were, that this pope is
a man of great joy.[49] After the death of Pope Paul VI, Dezza was more outspoken, saying that "if
Paul VI was not a saint, when he was elected pope, he became one during his pontificate. I was
able to witness not only with what energy and dedication he toiled for Christ and the Church but
also and above all, how much he suffered for Christ and the Church. I always admired not only his
deep inner resignation but also his constant abandonment to divine providence.".[50] It is this
character trait, which led to the opening of the process of beatification and canonization for Paul
VI.
With the accession of Pope John Paul II after the
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With the accession of Pope John Paul II after the

mysterious death of Pope John Paul I (who only survived
as pope for 33 days), the church had, for the first time
since Pope Adrian VI in the 16th century, a non-Italian
pope. John Paul II has been credited with helping to bring
down communism in eastern Europe by sparking what
amounted to a peaceful revolution in his Polish homeland.
Lech Wasa, one of the several founders of the Solidarity
Pope John Paul II (19782005)
worker movement that ultimately toppled communism,

credited John Paul with giving Poles the courage to rise
up.[51] The last Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged publicly the role of John Paul II in
the fall of Communism.[52] The pope himself stated after the fall of Communism that "the claim to
build a world without God has been shown to be an illusion" (Prague, April 21, 1990).
But this world without God exists in Capitalism too. Therefore, as did his predecessors, John Paul
repeated the content of Christianity, its religious and moral message, its defense of the human
person, and warned against the dangers of capitalism. "Unfortunately, not everything the West
proposes as a theoretical vision or as a concrete lifestyle reflects Gospel values."
The long pontificate of John Paul is credited with re-creating a sense of stability and even identity
to the Catholic Church after years of questioning and searching.[53] His teaching was firm and
unwavering on issues which seemed to be in doubt under his predecessor including the ordination
of women, liberation theology and priestly celibacy.[54] He virtually stopped the liberal laicisation of
problem priests policy of Pope Paul VI,[55] which inadvertently may have contributed to problems in
the USA.[56] His authoritative style was reminiscent of Pope Pius XII, whose teaching he repeated in
his own words, such as the identity of the Catholic Church with the Body of Christ and his
condemnations of capitalism "viruses": secularism, indifferentism, hedonistic consumerism,
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practical materialism, and also formal atheism.[57]

As always after a long pontificate, a new page was opened in the history of the Church with the
election of a new pope. Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005. In his inaugural homily, the new
Pontiff explained his view of a relation with Christ:
Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let

Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves
totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take
something away from us? [...] No! If we let Christ into
our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing
of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only
in this friendship do we experience beauty and
liberation [...] When we give ourselves to Him, we
Pope Francis
receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide

the doors to Christ and you will find true life.[58]
On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would tender his resignation on
February 28, 2013, less than three weeks later. On March 13, 2013, Pope Francisthe first Jesuit
pope and the first pope from the Americaswas elected to the papacy.
See also
[edit]
List of popes
Index of Vatican City-related articles
Notes
Catholicism portal
[edit]
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1. ^ "The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church, 881"
. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second
Edition. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2014.

2. ^ Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles."
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 21 Jul. 2014

3. ^
Joyce, G. H. (1913). "Pope". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
4. ^ Wilken. p. 281. "Some (Christian communities) had been founded by Peter, the disciple Jesus
designated as the founder of his church. But there is another school of thought on this issue of Peter
being given the title of founder of the Christian church. The Biblical truth is that Peter had no more
influence over the church than any other disciple of Jesus. In fact, Paul did more to build up
Christianity than any other disciple. The "keys of the kingdom" that Jesus supposedly gave to Peter
was simply the privilege given to all the Apostles to preach the Gospel. Once the position was
institutionalized, historians looked back and recognized Peter as the first pope of the Christian
church in Rome" Missing or empty |title= (help).
5. ^ "Second Vatican Council"
. p. 22 |chapter= ignored (help).
6. ^ Pope John Paul II (7 October 1992). "Talk"
7. ^ Avery Dulles (1987). The Catholicity of the Church . Oxford University Press. p. 140. ISBN 0-19826695-2.
8. ^ Wells, David F. "The Rise of the Papacy"
. Ligonier Ministries. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
9. ^ Baumgartner, 2003, p. 6.
10. ^ Richards, 1979, p. 70.
11. ^ Lffler, Klemens. "Ostrogoths." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1911. 21 Jul. 2014
12. ^ Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972, p. 537.
13. ^ Brook, Lindsay (2003). "Popes and Pornocrats: Rome in the early middle ages". Foundations 1
(1): 521.
14. ^ Duffy, 2006, p. 156.
15. ^ a
Spielvogel, 2008, p. 369.
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16. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. September 2003. "Nepotism

17. ^ a
bc
"
Duffy, 2006, p. 193.
18. ^ Spielvogel, 2008, p. 368.

19. ^ Duffy, 2006, p. 190.
20. ^ Duffy, 2006, p. 194.
21. ^ Duffy, 2006, p. 206.
22. ^ Schmidlin 119.
27. ^ in his book Die Arbeiterfrage und das Chistentum
28. ^ Ludwig Volk Das Reichskonkordat vom 20. Juli 1933, p. 34f., 4558.
29. ^ Klaus Scholder "The Churches and the Third Reich" volume 1: especially Part 1, chapter 10; Part
2, chapter 2
30. ^ Volk, p. 98-101. Feldkamp, 8893.
31. ^ Volk, p. 101,105.
32. ^ Volk, p. 254.
33. ^ Phayer 2000, p. 16; Sanchez 2002, p. 16-17.
34. ^ issued on June 2, 1951
35. ^ Audience for the directors of mission activities in 1944 A.A.S., 1944, p. 208.
36. ^ Evangelii praecones. p. 56.
37. ^ in 1951,
38. ^ 1953
39. ^ see Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII
40. ^ Peter Heblethwaite, Paul VI
41. ^ October 28, 1965
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42. ^ see Humanae Vitae

43. ^ Graham, Paul VI, A Great Pontificate, Brescia, November 7, 1983, 75
44. ^ a
Graham, 76
45. ^ a
Graham 76.
46. ^ Pallenberg, Inside the Vatican, 107,

47. ^ Guitton, 159
48. ^ a
Josef Schmitz van Vorst, 68
49. ^ Hebblethwaite,339
50. ^ Hebblethwaite, 600
51. ^ "The pope started this chain of events that led to the end of communism," Wasa said. "Before
his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of communism. "He
simply said: Don't be afraid, change the image of this land."
52. ^ "What has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would not have been possible without the
presence of this Pope, without the great role even political that he has played on the world scene"
(quoted in La Stampa, March 3, 1992).
53. ^ George Weigel, Witness to Hope, biography of Pope John Paul II
54. ^ Redemptor Hominis Orinatio 'Sacercotalis
55. ^ Peter Hebblethwaite, Paul VI New York, 1993
56. ^ According to some critics like Hans Kng in his 2008 autobiography
57. ^ see Anni sacri
58. ^ Vatican.va Homily on Christ
References
[edit]
Collins, Roger (2009). Keepers of the Keys: A History of the Papacy. Basic Books. ISBN 0-46501195-0.
Pennington, Arthur Robert (1882). Epochs of the Papacy: From Its Rise to the Death of Pope
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Pius IX. in 1878. G. Bell and Sons.

Duffy, Eamon (2006). Saints & Sinners (3 ed.). New Haven Ct: Yale Nota Bene/Yale University
Press. ISBN 0-300-11597-0.
Mcbrien, Richard (1997). Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II. San
Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-065304-3.
Maxwell-Stuart, P. (1997). Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy
over 2000 Years. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01798-0.
Rendina, Claudio (2002). The Popes: Histories and Secrets. Washington: Seven Locks Press.
ISBN 1-931643-13-X.
Barraclough, Geoffrey (1979). The Medieval Papacy. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-95100-6.
Buttler, Scott; Norman Dahlgren; David Hess (1997). Jesus, Peter & the Keys: A Scriptural
Handbook on the Papacy. Santa Barbara: Queenship Publishing Company. ISBN 1-882972-546.
Toropov, Brandon (2002). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Popes and the Papacy.
Indianapolis: Alpha Books. ISBN 0-02-864290-2.
Sullivan, Francis (2001). From Apostles to Bishops: The Development of the Episcopacy in the
Early Church. New York: Newman Press. ISBN 0-8091-0534-9.
McCabe, Joseph (1939). A History of the Popes . London.: Watts & Co.
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History of The Papacy

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History of the papacy

History of the Catholic Church.

The history of the papacy, the office held by the pope as

head of the Roman Catholic Church, spans from the time

of Peter to present day.

During the Early Church, the bishops of Rome enjoyed no

temporal power until the time of Constantine. After the fall

of Rome (the "Middle Ages", about 476), the papacy was

influenced by the temporal rulers of the surrounding Italian

Thereafter, the role of neighboring sovereigns was

replaced by powerful Roman families during the saeculum

obscurum, the Crescentii era, and the Tusculan Papacy.

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According to Catholic doctrine,

From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing

From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing

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loss of the Papal States and the creation of Vatican City.

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2.8 Western Schism (13781417)

During the Roman Empire (until 493)

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From Constantine (312493)

Main article: Bishops of Rome under Constantine I

Raphael's The Baptism of

Rome to be contemporaneously referred to as "pope"

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Middle Ages (4931417)

Main article: Ostrogothic Papacy

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Byzantine Papacy (537752)

Main articles: Byzantine Papacy and Papal States

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Justinian I re-conquered Rome and

consecration could occur; however, theological conflicts

appointed the next three popes.

were common between pope and emperor in the areas

Frankish influence (756857)

Main article: Frankish Papacy

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Influence of powerful Roman families (9041048)

Main articles: Saeculum obscurum, Crescentii and Tusculan Papacy

Conflicts with the Emperor and East (10481257)

Main article: History of the papacy (10481257)

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The wandering popes (12571309)

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The papal palace in Viterbo...

Avignon Papacy (13091377)

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Main article: Avignon Papacy

The Palais des Papes in Avignon

1378, Gregory XI moved the papal residence back to

Western Schism (13781417)

Main article: Western Schism

The division of European

Roman crowd enabled them to declare, in retrospect, that

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Avignon, while Urban VI remained in Rome.