Pope Celestine V

For centuries, the papacy and the pope have been around and are a significant aspect of the Italian culture and history. According to Catholic tradition, Jesus founded the papacy in the first century, when he chose St. Peter, the leader of the apostles, to be his earthly representative. "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church," he states in chapter 16 of Matthew. "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Those words, which now circle the dome of St. Peter's…

It is often considered taboo in modern society to question the beliefs of leaders. However, blindly accepting these views can lead to irresponsible and foolish actions that can cause the formation of institutionalized immoral practices that will be incredibly difficult to eradicate. Can authority be trusted, or should it be questioned? One can look back throughout history and literature to see a plethora of cases where the trust conferred onto authority was abused, and as a result the…

perceived wisdom of the High Middle Ages. Particularly disastrous, as Rabb notes, was the reign of Pope Boniface VIII. During his time as pope, monarchs in France and England began taxing the church, mostly to fund their ongoing wars against one another. Naturally, Pope Boniface VIII took a strong stance against this, and as a result he made a formal declaration that monarchs were subordinate to the power of a Pope. His statement was largely deemed laughable by kings throughout Europe, and when…

sect of religion in the world, and is led by the Pope. Upon the rise of Islam in the Middle East, tension between Eastern and Western Catholics intensified. As a result of this conflict, the Roman Catholic sect broke free as an alternative to Orthodox Catholicism (Brom). The Eastern Orthodox Church undertook the role of Catholics who wanted to practice simplified Catholicism after the divergence with Roman Catholics. Rather than recognizing the Pope as their leader, Orthodox Catholicism…

believed that the pope had too much power, thought the church was too wealthy, and didn’t agree with the abuse of indulgences. Indulgences were the Catholic concept of salvation, and it is basically paying for sins. There are three ways one might pay for their sin. People could use the coffers and give money, they could pay to use relics, or working off someone’s sins. Relics are things that the popes passed off as bones, blood, or teeth of famous people from the bible. The popes would tell them…

A member of a group of Protestants that arose in the 16th Century within the Church of England, demanding the simplification of doctrine and worship, and greater strictness in religious discipline: during part of the 17th Century the Puritans became a powerful political party. Puritans were the names given to members of a church. The puritan colonists believed that the Church of England, also known as The Anglican Church, should make more reforms to remove all the traces and trappings of the…

conflicts can be seen as early as the Carolingian dynasty after Pope Stephen II recognized Pepin the Short as King of the Franks. The Carolingians saw themselves as saviors of the Christian Gaul, yet they would ransack monasteries to pay their soldiers. Pepin the Short then gave power to his son, Charlemagne, who was truly concerned with education, government, and religion. Shortly after his rise to power Charlemagne was crowned Augustus by Pope Leo III, and by taking this title the Carolingian…

moved to Latin to distribute the Theses. They also pushed through printing presses in all the major nations. Among other things, Luther’s Theses would call into question the limits of the pope’s authority. Particularly, Luther questioned whether the pope could remit guilt of sin and whether it was possible to grant anyone the remission of all penalties. The “Ninety-Five Theses” had asked questions and brought up points of contention that many had wanted to ask, but few had dared to. Luther was…

way these leaders went about reform was all based with their proximity to power and how radical they were, some wanted a reform from the bottom up (most radical), some wanted it from the Crown, and some just wanted to sit and a have coffee with the Pope and dissolve the issues that way. Whatever their method and reasoning was their effectiveness came from, the sum of all the different observations and interpretations of scripture. This movement put pressure on an institution that was suppose to…

built under the supervision of two different Popes, Nicholas V and Julius II. Very little was accomplished under Nicholas’s reign, but the work was completed under Julius’ reign. The work began on Aril, 18, 1506 and the work continued through a succession of architects: Bramante, Raphael, Peruzzi, and Sangallo which all made huge changes to the design. Then the dome of St. Peters was designed by Michelangelo, and the nave plan was changed again by Sixtus V. The building was finished in 1614, and…