THE BUILDER MAY 1927

The Development of Papal Power in the Catholic Church

By BRO. FERDINAND OUDIN, Illinois

JUST as in the great Masonic Schism in England the "Antients" took
the fullest advantage in pressing all the implications of the term
"Moderns" by which their opponents were known, a term which they
even seem to have originated themselves, so has the Roman Church
taken advantage of the willingness of Protestants to leave to them
the exclusive use of the term Catholic, or Universal. The present
article may help to make it clear that Romanism or Papalism is
historically only a part of the Catholic Church which in fact
includes all baptized Christians. The distinction is by no means an
unimportant one.

WHAT was the Reformation ? In the average mind it was the 15th
century revolt against the Roman Church which led to the
establishment of Protestantism. This, to some extent, is correct if
we assume that the Reformation was due to forces from outside of
the Church and of a spontaneous nature. But historical research
leads us to accept the view that the Reformation is really distinct
from Protestantism as it bears all the marks of a regeneration of
the human race not only religiously but socially as well. It was
not so much a revolt as it was a re-establishment of the principles
of primitive Christianity and therefore addresses itself to all
mankind.

The Reformation was the culmination of constant attacks within the
Church itself, first against the formation of an Hierarchy and then
against the intolerable and odious acts of this Hierarchy. For this
reason we will have to go back in history to the very beginning of
the domination of the Roman over the Catholic Church. In this study
I think we should be careful to distinguish between Catholicism and
Popery, the latter, in my opinion, is the fundamental cause that
engendered all other evils leading up to the Reformation. What
important services Catholicism rendered to Europe at the time of
the formation of the various states was during that period when the
Church was still impregnated with the customs of primitive
Christianity and when Popery was only a shadow. Of course, there
were many among the hundreds of Popes who were good and sincere men
who did much for religion and mankind, but even these were forced
to observe the rules of the papal system that more unscrupulous
Popes had established.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ESTABLISHED AT ROME

Paul of Tarsus, the Apostle, came to Rome, the capital of the
empire, one may say of the world. Here he lived for two years
preaching the Gospel and establishing the primitive Christian
Church. Pastors or bishops were elected by the congregations. These
employed themselves with converting neighboring cities and towns,
where in turn other congregations or churches were established with
bishops to supervise them, and it was but natural that these
supervisors should consult the bishop of Rome on important
questions. The spiritual supremacy of the bishop of Rome was at
this time limited to the superintendency of the churches within the
jurisdiction of the Prefect of Rome.

But this homage, voluntary and meant as a mark of respect to Rome,
the seat of learning and greatness as well as of its bishops, was
in time considered by the latter as their right. The ecclesiasts
could not resist the intoxication which impelled them toward the
assumption of power; in this they obeyed the general law of human
nature.

The respect and relative influence enjoyed by the various Christian
bishops in the second century being proportional to the rank of the
city where they officiated, then, Rome being the most important,
the queen city, why should not the bishop of Rome be the king of
bishops? If Rome was the military ruler of the world, why should
not its bishop's authority be the law of all nations? It was very
easy for such ambitious men as the bishops of Rome to reason so in
their hearts.

As time went on, the bishops of different parts of the empire
willingly yielded to the bishop of Rome some portion of that honor
which was due to the queen city, but there was no dependence
implied in this honor thus paid. The Roman pastor was treated as on
equal level with them; admonitions from him were at first
fraternal, but these soon became commands from a pontiff, and a
place of honor among equals became in his eyes a throne.

This idea which held out such promise of power and wealth was
assiduously cultivated by the various bishops or popes of Rome
("pope" was, until the 6th century, a common title of bishops, and
is still the ordinary term for a priest in the Eastern Church), but
not until the year 189 did one of them, victor, assert his
self-assumed authority, and peremptorily excommunicate the Eastern
Church because it would not celebrate Easter on the same day as he
did. With the exception of this show of authority we know very
little of victor.

CALLISTUS THE FIRST POPE

The next important incumbent of the office of Roman bishop and the
one we may accept as the first Pope in the modern sense is
Callistus. Hippolytus, a contemporary bishop of Rome, a scholar and
saint, tells us that Callistus was the slave of a Christian named
Carpophorus who entrusted him with sums of money which he evidently
misappropriated, for his master had him banished to the mines in
Sardinia, the Siberia of the Empire. Shortly afterward when all
Christians imprisoned for their faith were released, he gained his
freedom with them and was sent to live at Antirium on a pension
provided by the Church. Having been sentenced to servitude in an
imperial penal institutio he ceased to be a slave and his former
master now had further authority over him. Callistus probably
possessed an able and persuasive character for we find that in the
year 217 he was chosen bishop or pope of Rome, but not without
considerable opposition led by Hippolytus, who continued to
denounce the newly-elected bishop, claiming the bishopric for
himself. Finally for the sake of peace Hippolytus was transferred
to the Port of Rome, twelve miles from the capital.

Callistus was of a rather liberal and astute mind. He evidently
placed himself on friendly terms with the secular power, the
Prefect, and he also made it much easier for Romans of the better
families, who were inclined toward moral lapses, to become
Christians; for as Tertullian, referring to Callistus, rather
jocosely says: "I hear that an edict has been issued. The supreme
Pontiff, the Bishop of Bishops, says: 'I will absolve even those
who are guilty of adultery and fornication, if they do penance'."
Callistus also decreed that a bishop having committed a mortal sin,
that is, one convicted of a major wrong, need not necessarily be
deposed. This was likely enough for self-protection considering his
earlier life.

During the next eighty years or so the Church suffered so much from
the persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius that the Popes of this
period were in the very nature of things of an austere and saintly
character, no man having ambitions for personal aggrandizement
would seek the office. After the abdication of Diocletian, however,
the political situation of the Empire changed. There was internal
strife between opposing secular factions and the persecution of
Christians slackened. Galerius also, now old and sick, repented
somewhat of his early savagery and issued an edict giving the
Christians some relief from persecution.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH OFFICIALLY ESTABLISHED

After Galerius' death, Constantine's assumption of power in 323 and
his conversion to Christianity became the turning point which
changed pagan Rome to the capital of Christendom. During his reign
the papacy received an impetus and the Pope of Rome became a power,
but not without first having to compromise with the Emperor as
future development will show. This development was aided by the
removal of the political capital of the Empire from Rome to
Byzantium, the City of Constantine, otherwise Constantinople. With
the Emperor gone the Pope became the principal personage in what
necessarily remained by tradition and in fact the chief city of the
west.

About this time a controversy was going on between the bishop of
Carthage, who headed the Donatists, a sect or rather schism in
Africa, and the bishop of the Church of Rome. Although the
controversy was of a purely ecclesiastical nature, this did not
keep the bishop of Rome from appealing to the Emperor, now a
Christian, to induce him to punish the recalcitrant Donatists
through the use of civil power; in this he was successful and their
exile and confiscation followed. From now on a closer union between
the clergy and the civic authorities came into being and with it
the first move to control education; a ruling being procured from
the Emperor that scholars educated at the expense of the public
were to bring credentials from their bishop as a proof of
membership of the Christian Church. Imperial edicts were also
issued in favor of the clergy, who thereby became a privileged
order.

When Constantius, the son of Constantine, came to Italy he had
espoused the theological views of the important sect of the
Christian Church at Alexandria known as the Arian heresy, and
desired for political reasons to enforce its acceptance everywhere.
These views Liberius, then Pope of Rome, refused to accept, for
which refusal he was banished to inhospitable Thrace. One Damasus,
a deacon, who as time will show was destined to become one of the
important Popes, took oath, with others, to stand by Liberius, and
accompanied him into exile. However, he soon after returned to
Rome, moved by private ambitions. Felix, another ecclesiastic,
chief deacon of Rome, who also swore to uphold Liberius, but who
was not adverse to personal aggrandizement, soon disregarded his
oath of fealty to Liberius, and ingratiated himself with the
Emperor by subscribing to the Arian doctrine and was made Pope of
Rome--the first anti-Pope, and was supported by Damasus and most of
the Roman clergy. The masses, however, and some of the clergy
remained true to the orthodox faith and Liberius, who overcome with
the weariness of exile and wishing to regain the papal power,
returned to Rome after having assented to some form of
semi-Arianism, in return for which the Emperor reinstated him as
bishop of Rome, having it announced that Liberius and Felix would
govern their respective congregations side by side. This rule of
two Popes did not last long, for in the ensuing strife Felix and
his adherents were driven out of Rome. In 365 Felix died; Liberius
now sole Pope, ruled only one year, for he followed Felix in 366.

It must be admitted that the history of these episodes is very
obscure. Roman Catholic historians gave a different version of the
facts, but they are naturally subject to a strong bias in favor of
upholding the orthodoxy of Liberius. In a brief sketch such as this
it is impossible to do more than note the difference of opinion.

THE POPES INCREASE THEIR POWER AND WEALTH

That the worldly state of the Popes must have improved greatly,
during even the few years of alliance with the Emperor, may be
judged from the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary
pagan, who tells us that "the bishop of Rome drove through the city
in a gorgeous chariot, and gave sumptuous banquets rivalling those
of the Emperor."

This pomp and wealth now having become part of the Papacy
undoubtedly helped to enflame the ambitions of Damasus and his
rival Ursicinus, also a deacon of Rome, to occupy the seat now
vacated by the death of Liberius. After a number of riotous fights
between the followers of the two deacons. Damasus had himself
consecrated at the Lateran Basilica. This, however, did not end the
bloody conflicts, which continued for months. But Damasus formed a
coalition with the wealthy and pagan officials of Rome, and
Praetextatus, the Prefect of Rome, put an end to the rioting. This
act, which was out of accord with the imperial policy, shows in
what high esteem the Pope was held even at that time. This is
further brought out, according to St. Jerome, by Praetextatus'
answer, upon the occasion when Damasus wished to convert him, which
was, "Make me bishop of Rome and I will become a Christian."

Damasus' ability in statesmanship is further demonstrated by his
success in obtaining from the Emperor a concession which decreed
that:

The Roman bishop should have power to inquire into the conduct of
the other priests of the churches, and that affairs of religion
should be judged by the Pontiff.

He was to have seven colleagues with him in these inquiries. By
this decree the Pope gained complete control over the clergy and he
availed himself of this on many occasions, but evidently not for
their moral improvement, as may be gathered from reading the
imperial rescript issued in the year 372 which prohibited priests
and monks from visiting the homes of widows and orphans, and
invalidated legacies made in their favor. Later this law was
extended to nuns and bishops. Damasus died in 384 after occupying
the papal chair for eighteen years.

LEO THE GREAT

During the next fifty years nothing of great importance occurred.
Then in the year 440, Leo the Great upon the death of Sixtus III
was elected to the papacy. Leo was a capable and sincere man, but
was fully convinced in his own mind of the validity of the dogmatic
papal conception first advanced by Damasus, according to which the
Pope was the successor of Peter and as such the supreme pontiff.
That Leo and the Emperor were on amiable terms may be gathered from
the fact that the Emperor sent him to reconcile the Generals Actius
and Albinus, who fought each other while the Empire suffered. We
know that the supreme pontiff was not adverse to forcing his will
upon those that would not obey him by having the Emperor issue
rescripts. A case in point is that of Hilary, metropolitan of
Arles. It appears that one, Calidonius, a bishop under the
jurisdiction of the saintly Hilary, appeared before the Pope
complaining of the harshness of his metropolitan. Hilary followed
this bishop to Rome to defend his position but to no avail. There
is a peculiar coincidence in papal history, that the appellant
usually received the favorable verdict. Later Leo wrote to the
bishops of Vienne that they no longer owed obedience to Hilary, to
which the latter, it seems, paid but little attention. So in the
same year the Emperor is prevailed upon to issue an imperial
rescript confirming Leo's action and to this was added:

We lay this down for ever, that neither bishops of Gaul nor those
of other provinces shall do anything contrary to ancient usage,
without the authority of the Pope of the Eternal City.

It takes no stretch of imagination to see the far reaching
authority this gave the popes. During Leo's reign we also come upon
the first case where a pope gave approval for the execution of a
heretic; it was that of Priscillian, who was convicted of the
errors of professing Manichean and Gnostic tenets. Regarding
executions for heresy, Pope Leo says:

Although ecclesiastical mildness shrinks from blood punishments,
yet it is aided by the severe decrees of Christian princes since
they who fear corporal sufferings will have recourse to spiritual
remedies.

From this it is seen that the Church looks toward the secular
rulers to enforce its decrees on those not in agreement with the
ecclesiastics.

It is true that Leo was not ambitious, he sought neither wealth nor
honor; he was a deeply religious man, fully convinced that what he
did was for the good of Christianity, but unfortunately his edicts
and decisions became precedents for more unscrupulous
ecclesiastics. Leo died in the year 461, leaving a fairly well
established Hierarchy willing to submit to the Pope of Rome as its
head.

During the next 130 years seventeen pontiffs ruled from the Lateran
Palace with varying success but with steadily increasing temporal
power; the first seven were worthy successors of Leo, but the
latter ten were of much smaller caliber, who allowed the Roman See
to become dependent on the whims of the Byzantine Emperor. The last
of these Popes, Pelagius II, died in 590, which closed that period
of early church and papal history which may be termed ancient. With
the assumption of control by Gregory I, we will commence a study of
the Middle Age, which will be covered in another article.

