Within the public intensions the king wanted to bring the clergymen into the sphere of his subjects. Clergymen of England were under the influence of the Pope, and saw the king as a second leadership figure. The Monasteries were also an outdated system that needed to be changed, for the better according to Henry VIII. The Dissolution would also show if the monasteries were suitable to serve as hospitals and as educational centres for the people of England. However, Henry and Cromwell had their own private intensions to dissolve the monasteries.
Therefore it was not to a great extent that the English Church needed reformation in the 16th Century. Those historians, who would claim that the English Church needed reformation, would begin with the issue of The Papacy. As the Catholic Pope in Italy was the head of the Church, this gave a foreign authority a great deal of power in England. This did not sit well with Henry VIII or his people. Therefore by reforming the English Church and removing the Pope and making Henry VIII the Supreme Head of the Church in England, there was a revolution in the relationship between Church and State.
This can be further broken down into two components. The first problem of church politics was the legitimacy of the Popes. This would lead to the second problem which was the refusal of the Avignon and Roman Popes to compromise with each other as they thought of themselves as being the legitimate Pope. The problem of legitimacy must now be examined. In 1378, the College of Cardinals, under pressure from an unruly Roman mob outside the Conclave elected Urban VI as Pope.1 However, after Urban’s harsh treatment of the Cardinals alienated them, they proceeded to 1 D. Hay, Europe In The Fourteenth And Fifteenth Centuries, London, 1989, p. 301. declare Urban’s election invalid and elect Clement VII as Pope.2 This created a situation without precedent as there was no clear
The fourth crusade became terribly diverted from its original plans and became one of the most tragic and barbaric of all the crusades. When Innocent III was elected Pope in 1198 he wanted to ensure his superiority over the state. The Papacy was at its strongest when Innocent reigned as Pope from 1198 – 1216. He believed that the line of Peter’s bishops should control the church and help rule over all domestic affairs. Despite all of Innocent’s lofty views of himself he still maintained a pious and clear mind.
While Pope Gregory VII did not introduce the celibacy of the priesthood into the Church, he did take up the fight against the indecency with greater energy unlike his predecessors. The image most often used to describe the role of the priest is one of marriage to the Church. Just as marriage is the total gift of self to another, the priesthood requires the total gift of self to the Church. One of the most powerful advocators of priest celibacy came from St. Augustine, the renowned philosopher of western thought, as he
This condition raised diverse reasons for papal power from different popes who contributed differently to its growth. Some of these reasons and how they contributed to papal growth and different popes who initiated and supported this leadership and the methods they used and their impact to the church are going to be discussed. National character of Christianity in the middle Ages. In the middle ages, religion in the Christian sense was a matter of national churches resulted as the Germanic and the Slavic peoples accepted Christianity. Gregory the Great in his days tried with little success to bring all the new churches to Rome.
This Theses was addressed to Pope Leo X, who was building St Peter’s. Luther was angered about this and made his opinion in the Theses that if the pope could open the doors of purgatory for people who paid, why could he not open them for all people.Luther published other scriptures against the sale of indulgences, his letter to Albrecht of Mainz and the explanation of the 95 Theses. His initial writings were catalysts in the course of the reformation, it was Luther’s anger and bravery that began the Reformation. Luther continued to publish impactful works, in 1520 he released To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, where Luther outlined the doctrine of the Priesthood of all believers and denied the authority of the Pope to interpret, or confirm interpretation of the Bible, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian. These publications all became influential as they were able to spread around Germany through the German printing press and were allowing people to form their own opinions of the church rather than being told by the church what to believe.
For instance, “the sale of indulgences for the benefit of the church of Rome specifically for the rebuilding of St. Peters Cathedral provoked harsh criticism, especially by those who saw the luxuries of the papacy as a betrayal of apostolic ideals ” (Fiero 119). Martin Luther stated a list of objections, called the Ninety-Five Theses, against the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestant Reformation changed the course of Western civilization for the long term which led to the impact on the arts using Northern Renaissance art, music and literature. Protestant reformers made two new printmaking processes, which were woodcut and engraving. Compared to the too expensive hand-illuminated manuscripts, books with printed pictures became an inexpensive option for all (Fiero 127).
The Rise of the Papacy This paper, The Rise of the Papacy, will define the Papacy and Reformation , evaluate how and why the Papacy became the center of power in Rome, discuss the factors that contributed to its dominance of Western Europe until the Reformation, as well as, analyze the positive and negative ramifications of the Office of the Papacy. The Papacy is the system of ecclesiastical government in the Roman Catholic Church in which the Pope is recognized as the supreme head. It has its beginning with Peter and is represented now by Pope Benedict XVI. The Papacy can be looked at from two different viewpoints: biblical and historical. When looking at it from a biblical standpoint, the truth of its inception is shown in a light that the Protestant and Catholic theologians have a different opinion.
When examining the life of Constantine, one must first consider his life before he professed any affinity or allegiance to the Christian faith or Church. Constantine was a military man who was battling for control of the Roman Empire. The empire was divided between Constantine and Maxentius. The latter was content in maintaining the persecution of Christians, as Diocletian had done before him, while the former hoped for more religious tolerance to both Pagans and Christians alike.1 In the fall of 312 A. D., Constantine began to look for guidance from the God above all others, the God whom his own father had believed in. As Eusebius later related, he looked to the sky and saw a vision of a trophy of the cross emanating from the light of the sun and the message “conquer by this”.