THE BUILDER June, 1927

The Development of Papal Power in the Catholic Church

BJ BRO. FERDINAND OUDIN, Illinois

A STUDY of the Middle Ages becomes in the very nature of things a combined
study of the Papal system and of the Holy Roman Empire, for the two are
inseparable. During this period the Pope and Emperor were either at war with
one another, or else conspiring together to overthrow some other ruler of
church or state. Gregory
I (the Great) is usually considered as the first medieval Pope, he
was a man peculiarly suited to impress the world at this
transition period. He was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy
patrician, possessed vigor and administrative ability, and was
reared in a time when little culture was left in Rome.

In 573 Gregory served as Prefect of Rome, this was at the time
when the Lombards over-ran Italy and all but captured Rome.
Desolation was everywhere, and no doubt these conditions were what
finally convinced him that the end of the world was near; a belief
that, in his sermons and writings, repeatedly comes to the
surface.

In 578 Gregory was sent by Pope Pelagius II to Constantinople, to
ask the Emperor for troops to defend the Roman See. During the
eight years there he was still further strengthened in his belief
of the coming desolation by the general corruption of the clerics
and the fierce dogmatic discussions among them. His return to Rome
in 586 was without troops, but he brought back with him an arm of
St. Andrews and the head of St. Luke, which according to the
belief of the Church was a far greater treasure. His austerity may
be judged from an anecdote, told by himself, according to which
one of his monks appropriated a small sum, violating his vow of
poverty. Gregory refused the dying man the consolation of the
sacraments, and had him buried in a dunghill.

Pelagius II died in 590 and the Romans rushed into the monastery
where Gregory stayed and brought the news that Gregory was to be
his successor. He felt himself unequal to the task and fled, but
being the ablest man in Italy he was brought back to Rome and made
Pope. He was a strict disciplinarian and did much to correct the
evils of his clergy, and on occasions would direct the movement of
troops that he sent out against the Lombards. Much of his time and
ability was needed to control the vast Papal incomes and
expenditures, for there were now immense estates and patrimonies
scattered all over Italy, Gaul, Dalmatia and Africa; some of these
were brought to the Papal See by himself, for, as mentioned
before, he came of a wealthy family. An estimate of these holdings
sets them at anywhere from 1400 to 1800 square miles. Gregory,
however, deserves his title, "the Great," for his enormous wealth
was used by him for the furtherance of the Church through charity
and justice.

A picture of the corruptness of the Church, however, may be seen
through some of his letters; in one of them he says: "I hear that
no one can obtain orders in your provinces without paying for
them." This refers to the practice of simony which even at so
early a period was prevalent among the higher clergy, many of whom
had been ambitious laymen who had purchased a bishopric and then
lived a vicious and luxurious life by extorting illegal fees. In
599 he issued a letter to all the clergy, forbidding bishops to
have women in their houses and ordering priests, deacons and
subdeacons to separate from their wives. Information came to him
that the clergy of Sardinia and Corsica were very corrupt and that
Januarius, Metropolitan at Cagliari, was intemperate and
avaricious, so Gregory gave orders for the latter to appear in
Rome and stand trial.

Conditions in Italy were anything but suitable for the development
of a spiritual Pope and so Gregory found that if he wished to
succeed in some measure to reform the world, and especially his
clergy, he would have to resort to force. He appointed military
governors, and a considerable part of his correspondence was with
military men, stirring them to action and outlining campaigns. His
almost fanatical desire to convert everyone is illustrated by his
instructions to the Archbishops, to raise the rents and taxes of
those pagans who would not renounce their gods, and when this did
not suffice, he enjoined physical persecution; slaves were to be
punished with "blows and tortures" while free tenants were to be
imprisoned, "In order that they who disdain to hear the saving
words of health may at least be brought to the desired sanity of
mind by torture of the body." Here he legislated for the medieval
age. While he denounced simony he did not deem it inexpedient to
grant the pallium to Bishop Syagrius of Autun when requested to do
so by the willful Brunechildis, Queen of Austrasia, and withhold
it from the learned and devout Bishop of Desiderius of Vienne who
had gained her dislike for having upbraided her improper actions.
Gregory, usually so well informed, could not help knowing the
character of the woman whose influence he attempted to win, and it
is not surprising that simony, drunkenness and vice continued
among the Frankish priests and monks.

Now it was not only the Pope who meddled in secular affairs, as
often as not the King or Emperor would interfere with those of the
Church. The Archbishop of Salona, a very lax prelate, died and the
Pope tried to fill the vacancy by having the archdeacon, a
vigorous priest, elected. But neither the clergy nor laity desired
a change of morals in the episcopal palace and procured an order
from the Emperor permitting them to elect their own favorite.
Gregory charged bribery and excommunicated the new Archbishop. In
another casethe Emperor wanted to replace an invalid bishop with a
more vigorous man, to which Gregory refused his consent.

GREGORY'S MISSIONARY ZEAL

Gregory's zeal for the extension of the Christian faith led him to
establish the first Hierarchy in England. It is said that in his
early days he saw a number of very fair complexioned youths among
some slaves that were brought to Rome. They looked so angelic that
he decided to convert the land, "Angel-Land," from which they
came. He purchased a number of these youths and trained them as
missionaries to return to their home land and preach the Gospel.
He also, through the friendly relations established with Gaul,
gained entrance to the court of Ethelbert, King of Britain. To
this court he sent a mission of monks under St. Augustine, who in
a few years converted the King, changed the temples into churches
and had the King's subjects driven into them to attend Mass.

On March 12, 604, Gregory died, having striven hard during his
life to correct the evils of the clergy and laity but with little
success. He did, however, greatly strengthen the Papacy, making it
a power that under proper leadership might have done great good in
the world.

Two centuries pass by without much change, then Zachary, a most
genial and diplomatic Pope, changed the Papal policy. At this time
the strife between the Lombards and the various Dukes of Italy
raged especially strong; the Pope stood to gain nothing by aiding
the Dukes, the rightful Lords of Italy, so made overtures to
Liutprand, the King of the Lombards, and loaned him his small army
to aid him in suppressing the obstinate Dukes, and received in
return four towns as patrimony, enriching the Papacy thereby.

PAPAL INTERVENTION IN GAUL

A little later came the notorious intervention of the Pope in the
secular affairs of the Franks. Pippin, the mayor of the palace,
turned to the Pope for moral council regarding his designs on the
throne of Childeric III. Zachary was not slow to see his
advantage, and so went much farther than the request called for
and ordered the Franks to elect Pippin their King. This act
established Rome's claim that she conferred the kingdom on the
father of Charlemagne. Zachary's act was further strengthened by
his successor, Stephen II, who in 753 went to France and induced
Pippin to "take up the cause of the Blessed Peter and the Republic
of the Romans" and annointed Pippin and his sons, pronouncing an
anathema on all who would displace the family of Pippin from the
throne. The grateful Pippin swore to secure for the Popes the
Roman Duchy, "divers cities and territories," and the exarchate of
Ravenna. This act is historically known as the "Donation of
Pippin," and a latter renewal of the same as the "Quiercey
Donation."

We may now pass directly to the Pontificate of Hadrian I, who
diplomatically gained further patrimonies for the Papacy. In 773
Charlemagne came to Rome to celebrate Easter. Hadrian made hurried
though elaborate arrangements for the reception and entertainment
of his illustrious guest. In the Libei Pontificalis is a detailed
description of this visit, in which we are told of the great piety
of the Emperor; the writer further tells us that on the Wednesday
the Pope and King met in the presence of the body of St. Peter and
that there Charlemagne assigned to St. Peter and his successors
forever the larger part of Italy, as we know it today. On this is
based the Papal claims to the temporal power in Italy.

THE POPE AS A TEMPORAL RULER

The remainder of Hadrian's rule was so taken up with looking after
the temporal rights of his See, that little time was left for
spiritual duties. He was really more King than Pope. In the
meantime the other prelates were not all in accord with the Pope's
plans. We hear that shortly after Charlemagne's return to France,
Leo, Archbishop of Ravenna, had seized the cities of the Archate,
turned out the offlcials appointed by the Pope and by the use of
troops took over the rule of the district. Hadrian did a good deal
for art and charity, but this mostly in the confines of Rome. On
the whole, his vast resources were used in laying the foundation
for the future material grandeur of the papacy, and in supporting
armies in the field to protect it against his rivals. He also is
one of the first to establish nepotism, appointing his nephew
Paschalis, a desolute and brutal man, to one of the chief papal
offices. It was this Paschal who soon after Hadrian's death
attempted, on the floor of a church, to cut out the eyes of Pope
Leo III, Hadrian's successor.

Stephen V, successor to Leo III, occupied the papal throne for
only one year. His short rule, however, was such that Charlemagne
came to Rome to judge him on serious charges. He acquitted the
Pope, who shortly after, on Christmas morning in the year 800,
surprised Charlemagne by placing an imperial crown on his head. So
now the Popes could also claim that they made Emperors.

THE POPE AS OVERLORD OF KINGS

The next seven Popes were men of more or less mediocrity, showing
alternate flashes of spirituality and violence, but in general
they indicated a papal degeneracy until 858, when Nicholas I
became the wearer of the tiara. He was the son of a Roman notary,
and fairly well educated according to the standards of his day.
His was a gradual rise from the lowest rank in the church. His
service had been such as to make him well liked, and so upon the
death of Benedict III he was unanimously chosen to succeed him. On
Sunday, April 24, 858, he was consecrated in the presence of
Emperor Louis II. Soon after his ascension to the papal chair he
showed that a different type of Pope had come to rule the church.
He took his office very seriously, and sincerely believed himself
God's representative on earth. To him all creatures were equal, be
they beggar or king, bishop or monk, and he felt himself to be
responsible to God for every wrong committed on earth. He gave
kings their right to rule and considered them his subjects; and
leading bishops, no matter how powerful, were expected to obey him
or be deposed. No council or diet must be held without his
approval. He left to the Emperor the rule of men's bodies, but he
controlled their souls. To his credit be it said that he regulated
his own life as well as that of those immediately near him with
the same moral strictness. Then also the conditions were such as
to require the rule of such a master. The prelates were many of
them court favorites, members of princely families, arrogant and
avaricious, who set up a sort of feudal aristocracy in the church,
and oppressed priest, monk and people, even putting themselves
against the very prince whose vassals they were. Nicholas I was
the right man for the times, who did much to improve the morals of
the world. But no matter how beneficial the centralization of
spiritual power or how religious his purpose may have been, it
cannot be gainsaid that at times he resorted to principles that
set a dangerous precedent for more unscrupulous successors. He
died in 867, having administered stern justice according to his
light for nine and one-half years.

THE "IRON CENTURY"

We shall pass over the next century giving our attention to the
tenth, that Baronius has forever branded "the iron century." It
may be considered as opening with Pope Sergius III, who reigned
from 904 to 911. Many causes united toward the decadent conditions
of this century. It was an age of violent characters,
uncontrolled; a constantly growing number of small principalities,
the heads of which were in bloody rivalry. The Papacy's nominal
independence from worldly princes, with its inability to protect
itself without their aid, caused the Popes to dangle the imperial
crown before the eyes of the rulers of Italy, France and Germany,
trying to find a monarch who would protect the Church but not
govern it. All this of course led to political intrigue and
revolting practices. The morals were at their lowest. It is
recorded that a nephew of Bishop Arsenius abducted the daughter of
Pope Hadrian II and being pursued, murdered her and the Pope's
wife. On one occasion the Pope had one of his officials blinded
and caused the widow of another offlcial to be driven with whips,
naked, through the streets of Rome.

During the iron century these corrupt families came more into
light and the domination of the Papacy by the immoral Theodora and
Marozia are just one of the many instances of corruption.
Liutprand, Bishop of Cremona and an attache of the court of Otto
I, a frequent visitor at Rome during the time of Pope John XI,
says that Theodora was all-powerful, that she was "a shameless
whore" and mistress of John X, in whose promotion to the See of
Ravenna and later to that of Rome she was instrumental. That her
daughters, Marozia and Theodora, were more shameless than she, and
that Pope John XI was the son of Marozia and Sergius III, an
unscrupulous man who resigned from a bishopric, returning to the
rank of deacon, thereby bettering his chances of receiving the
Papacy. He ruled as Anti-Pope in 898, was driven from Ror.e being
charged with responsibility of the death of his two predecessors.

This immoral condition did not obtain only in high places, but
judging from what Bishop Ratherius of Verona says, existed along
among the lesser luminaries. Writing of the prelates he tells us,
that they dress gorgeously, ride out to hunt on richly caparisoned
horses, returning at night to sumptuous banquets, with dancing
girls for company, with whom later they retire to beds inlaid with
gold and silver.

But whatever vices John X may have had, he was not neglectful of
his duty to the Papacy, for when he heard that the Saracens were
still devastating Italy he formed a great league to combat them,
and marshaling his own Roman militia, he rode at their head,
besides Alberic of Camerino. There had been many fighting Popes,
but John X was the first to take the field in person.

During John's later years there was considerable strife between
the Papacy and the laity. John called his brother Peter to Rome
and gave him so much power that it infuriated the nobles and
former supporters. In 928 the Pope was taken from the palace and
cast into prison, where he died the following year, whether of
natural causes is not known.

INCONSISTENCY OF FAITH AND PRACTICE

As we read the history of the Middle Ages we are continuously
confronted by seeming absurdities; men, stained with vice,
proclaim full and sincere devotion to a religion that never
departed from the purity of its moral teachings. This leads us to
the conclusion that such persons have been either fools or
hypocrites. Yet so to conclude would be erroneous, for we know
that a man's action little conforms to the general maxims laid
down for his guidance, and that he can hold to a belief without
applying its doctrines. So though his thoughts are influenced his
actions are not governed by them. This condition of mind was of
course more apparent during the Middle Ages; men were more
impulsive, more violent and reckless. Then also the moral code was
of low order, so that what today would be a heinous crime, was
then overlooked if not actually condoned.

Therefore, though all believed in the rights of the Empire, none
would yield to those rights if they ran counter to their own
passions or interests; but resistance to the Pope, the Vicar of
God, was considered a mortal sin that few would care to commit. So
in order to strengthen the imperial prerogative and give it a
practical efficiency it became imperative to prop it up with the
authority of feudalism, with a king at its head who with the
support of feudal lords might combat the Popes. The Pope, however,
considered himself above earthly rulers so it became imperative
that Pope and Emperor be in accord. This condition led to
continuous strife; sometimes the Pope being the stronger would
select and crown an Emperor, at other times the Emperor holding
the upper hand would place a Pope on the throne.

An account of the turbulent reign of Pope John XII will illustrate
this condition. Otto I, Emperor and King of a feudal monarchy,
could not enforce his regal authority in his capital, Rome; he
could only rule it as Emperor. Here he never was safe from insult
or revolt, so when after his coronation he returned to North Italy
to subdue Berengar and his son Adalbert, Pope John XII, a restless
youth of 25, renounced his allegiance, negotiated with Berengar
and even sent envoys to induce the pagan Magyars to invade
Christian Germany. Of his action the Emperor was soon informed,
but affected to despise them. On his return to Rome he found the
city gates shut and defended by a party that was furious against
him, for John was not only Pope but the heir of Alberic and as
such the head of a strong faction of nobles and a temporal prince
of Rome. They, however, could not withstand a siege, and John fled
into the Campagna to join Adalbert.

POPE JOHN XII TRIED AND DEPOSED

Otto convoked a synod in St. Peters and elected himself temporal
head of the Church. He made inquiries into the character of the
Pope and the assembled clergy brought in a tempest of accusations.
Bishop Liutprand, who acted as interpreter for the Emperor,
enumerated these in his writings, most of the accusations having
to do with breaches of canon law, but he tells us also that

Bishop John, of Narmia and John, cardinal deacon declared-- that
he had defiled by shameless acts of vice the pontifical palace;
that he had openly diverted himself with hunting; had put out the
eyes of his spiritual father Benedict; had set fire to houses. . .
. All present, laymen as well as priests cried out that he had
drunk to the devil's health.

Upon being solemnly assured by the clergy and people that Pope
John XII had committed all these crimes and even greater ones, the
Emperor had a letter despatched to him, recounting the charges,
and asking him to appear at Rome to clear himself by his own oath.
But John refused; so then at a later deliberation over which Otto
presided the Pope was deposed by the assembly because of his
reprobate life, and with the Emperor's consent Leo, the chief
secretary and a layman, was raised to the apostolic chair. After
several revolts John XII returned to Rome but his career was soon
ended by what was said to be a blow on the head given him by the
devil.

The people now chose a new Pope, Stephen IV, in defiance of the
Emperor. Otto thereupon suppressed the republican form of
government and entrusted the governing of the city to his nominee,
Pope Leo III, to act as viceroy, and who was not presumed to set
up any claims to independence. Leo also confirmed the Emperor's
veto on Papal elections which the citizens had yielded in 963.

THE FIRST REFORMATION

Ten Popes and Anti-Popes followed each other during the next 30
years and saw the people sink lower and lower into corruption from
which Pope Gregory VII, better known as Hildebrand, endeavored to
lift them. That feudalism which was encouraged by the Papal See,
and which saved Europe from the barbarians, began now to inject
itself into the Church. The spiritual offices became inheritable
property of the ruling houses, and disassociated from religious
duties. Bishops practically became barons in cope and mitre, and
kings looked upon them as officials bound to serve them.
Fortunately for the Church, at this time a strong reformatory
movement developed, usually referred to as the "Cluniac
Reformation"; it had foundits beginning in the Monastery at Cluny,
Burgundy, and rapidly spread through the Benedictine monasteries
throughout the empire. These various monasteries, through their
abbots, who were responsible to the arch-abbot of Cluny, formed a
unity of organization that exercised a control over a large
portion of the religious world. This organization under the
jurisdiction of Rome began teaching a doctrine of the high power
of the Apostolic See. Their ideal was the separation of the Church
from the State, the Pope to be the ultimate source of
jurisdiction, the universal bishop, no cleric was to have any
rights of his own that were not derivative from the authority of
the chair of Peter. With this reformation Hildebrand was closely
associated and from it sprung two centuries of conflict between
Pope and Emperor. Then also the Pope's decree of celibacy for the
clergy caused another great upheaval.

THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE

To what heights of power the Papacy had risen during Gregory's VII
Pontificate may be gleaned from contemplating the abjectness of
Henry IV who opposed the decrees of 1075 against simony and lay
investitures, writing an accusatory letter to the Pope in which he
demanded his abdication from the Papal throne. This letter was
delivered at the great synod held at Rome in 1076. It caused a
tumult. Henry was excommunicated and deposed in turn. The war thus
declared between Pope and king waged for some time, but gradually
the simoniacs deserted the king's cause and he finally had to
plead for the Pope's pardon. Henry had to humiliate himself; for
three days he waited, barefoot and fasting in the snow, outside
the castle gate, in the dress of a penitent. The Pope admitted him
on the fourth day, and the king threw himself at his feet with the
cry, "Holy father, spare me !" The ensuing peace, however, settled
nothing.

The spirit of religion, originally mild and loving, was now
gradually assuming a character of extravagant and fervid devotion.
The zealots sought the establishment of a heaven on earth, where
the Pope acted as the Vicar of God, the immaculate priesthood
being the angelic hosts and the Church heaven itself. The layman
from the Emperor down was thus subordinated to this Papal system.
The Empire, the Church, the whole world was to be governed by this
great theocracy of which the Pope was the head. The
"Sacksenspiegel," the ancient code of the Empire, says:

God sent two swords on earth for the protection of Christendom and
gave one to the Pope, the spiritual; to the Emperor, the temporal
one

The "Schwabenspiegel" was compiled at a later date, to fit in with
the Papal scheme and to replace the earlier law, the sense of
which was completely charged; thus

God, now the Prince of Peace, left two swords here on earth on his
ascension into heaven, for the protection of Christendom both of
which he consigned to St. Peter, one for temporal, and the other
for spiritual rule. The temporal sword is lent by the Pope to the
Emperor. The spiritual sword is held by the Pope himself.

The subordination of all the rulers of earth to a supreme Pontiff
and the combining into one vast community all nations, was a grand
and sublime idea; but as Henzel said,

unfortunately for its realization, the ecclesiastical shepherds
allowed too much of earthly passion and of sordid interest to
cling to them in their elevated and almost superhuman positions.

The zenith of Papal power was reached during the Pontificate of
Innocent III. The eighteen Popes who occupied the chair of St.
Peter between the death of Gregory VII (Hildebrand) and the
election of Innocent were for most part men of high character who
depended upon false Decretals, letters, canons and charters, that
were accepted throughout the Church, to enforce their claims of
the right to dispose of earthly kingdoms as well as to control the
entrance into Heaven.

THE RULE OF INNOCENT III

The struggle between the Popes and the Romans had now lost its
ardor, the nobles looking toward the Popes with greater respect.
Then also Peter's chair was occupied mostly by men of illustrious
Roman families. From one of these came Lothario de' Conti di
Segui, whose mother belonged to a family which included several
cardinals. He was well educated in liberal arts, theology and
canon law. On January, 1198, he ascended the Papal throne, taking
the name of Innocent III. During his eighteen years' rule he
supervised the affairs of the world, nothing of importance
occurred that he did not intervene in. During this time there was
hardly a secular ruler from prince down to baron that he did not
excommunicate, and most of the countries were at one time or other
placed by him under an interdict. His work as he saw it was the
ruling of the world, and his prodigious energy and high ability
brought the Papacy t o its highest pinnacle. He had a strong
dislike, almost hatred, for the Germans who would not bend under
his yoke. He sent men and money to cities located in Papal fiefs,
under the rule of the German Emperor, to be used in their fight
against him. He also followed precedent in adding to his realm by
inducing Constance, widow of Henry, to make Sicily a fief of the
Roman See, and compelled this country to pay annual tribute to the
Pope and give feudal service when called upon. Innocent encouraged
the French adventurer Walter de Brienne, who had married a
daughter of Tancred of Sicily, and who claimed Lecce and Tarentum
as his wife's legacy, to bring French troops and help wage war
more effectively against the Germans. During Innocent's
pontificate the struggle for the imperial crown was waged by the
followers of Phillip of Swabia and the supporters of Otto of
Brunswick. Into this struggle the Pontiff entered seeing a
possibility of eliminating the Hohenstaufens who he regarded as
foes to the Papacy; while Otto professed loyalty to Rome. When the
various parties finally came to settle their differences at the
point of the sword, the Pope complained, and declared that only he
could be the judge as to who should be Emperor. He sent warning to
the German prelates not to choose an Emperor that was not his
choice. In the meantime Otto had himself proclaimed Emperor at
Cologne in 1198 and swore that he would defend the Papal
possessions and in 1201 he was proclaimed by the Papal Legate.

The gigantic power that the Papacy built up was attainable only by
undermining the German Empire, and the success of the Roman
Pontiff in this can be traced to the treasonable defection of the
great vassals of the crown, who being unable to assert their
independence under the Empire, confederated with the Pope, whose
power as Italy's temporal head might serve to counteract that of
the Emperor. Had the unity and power of the Empire been maintained
under the Emperor, civil and mental liberty would probably have
reached a much higher plane sooner than was obtained under the
Papal system. And so, as Menzel says:

By the destruction of the Hohenstaufen, the Popes at the head of
the Italians gained a complete victory over the emperors who until
now had been at the head of the nations of Germany but the means
of which they made use in the pursuance of their schemes were
exactly contrary to the tents of the religion they professed to
teach, nor was their vocation as vicegerents of Christ upon earth
at all compatible with the policy by means of which, leagued with
France, they pursued their plans in Italy, and continually
injured, harassed and degraded the Germans as a nation. For this
purely political and national purpose, means were continually made
use of so glaringly unjust and criminal that the measure of
offense was at length complete and called forth that fearful
reaction of German nationality known as the Reformation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Histoire de la reformation by D'Aubignes. 
Romanism in the Light of History by R. H. McKim. 
Crises in the History of the Papacy by J. McCabe. 
The Church and the Roman Empire by A. Carr. 
The Papacy and Modern Times by W. J. Barry. 
The Holy Roman Empire by James Bryce. 
History of Germany by Wolfgang Menzel. 
Empire and Papacy in the Middle Ages by Greenwood. 
Italy by J.S.C. Abbott

