Pope Boniface VIII

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One of the reasons we had many problems in the Church near the early 1800’s is because of Pope Boniface VIII. Pope Boniface the VIII was not a saint, but a scoundrel. He influenced the church in a negative way by opposing King Philip IV of France, trying to make many changes in the Church that produced outcomes which were negative and issuing the Unam Sanctum. His family and his background had a big influence on his beliefs and those beliefs affected everything he did and said. Pope Boniface VIII original name was Benedetto Caetani. He was born in c. 1235 and died on October 11, 1303 in Rome, Italy. He was a pope from 1294 to 1303 (Ladner). His parents and his background had a big influence on what he did and believed in. It was guaranteed …show more content…
So in other words, the kings must always obey the Pope. The Unam Sanctum was important because it showed us how Boniface viewed the church and the papal authority. He tried to reinforce papal authority. He wanted to reinforce this authority because he wanted to prevent Kings of France and England from taking the money of the Church by way of the state taxing the church. At this time The Church was the wealthiest institution, and they needed to protect that. King Philip stated that the Kings protect the faith and because of that taxing the church was justified. All this lead to many consequences. King Philip was not happy with the protest on taxes of Pope Boniface because he needed money which is why he wanted to tax French clergy. Due to Pope Boniface protesting and opposing Philip there were consequences. The Kings response to Boniface was economic pressure. Economic pressure was a time where price was controlled. The King also was very upset, so he demanded that Boniface be taken and be held captive. He wanted Boniface to resign from being Pope. In September 1303, Boniface was taken by the Colonna family, he was held captive for many days. Since the King wanted him to step down from being pope, the Colonna family demanded him, but Pope Boniface refused. During his captivity, he was mocked and tormented and not treated well. After being held captive he successfully survived the attack and returned to …show more content…
He was not the best example of a Pope. Most popes are very humble, have a good approachability, are simple, provide service and show tenderness, but on the other hand Pope Boniface VIII lacked all of those qualities. He lacked those qualities because of the many things he did wrong. The whole time Pope Boniface was the Pope he made it seem like he wanted to help the church, but he actually just wanted to rule over people and have everyone listen to him. Pope Boniface the VIII was not a saint, but a scoundrel. He influenced the church in a negative way by opposing King Philip IV of France, trying to make many changes in the Church that produced outcomes which were negative and issuing the Unam Sanctum. Pope Boniface was a negative influence on the Church and should not have been trusted to lead the

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