History of the papacy

[1] In the first three centuries of the Christian era, many of Peter's successors as bishops of Rome are obscure figures, most suffering martyrdom along with members of their flock in periods of persecution.

Written while John the Apostle was still alive, Clement commanded that the Corinthians maintain unity with each other and bring to an end the schism that had divided the church in that region.

The legend surrounding the victory of Constantine I in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312) relates his vision of the Chi Rho and the text in hoc signo vinces in the sky, and reproducing this symbol on the shields of his troops.

[16] Symmachus also instituted the practice of popes naming their own successors, which held until an unpopular choice was made in 530, and discord continued until the selection in 532 of John II, the first to rename himself upon succession.

Justinian I restored the Roman imperial rule in the Italian peninsula after the Gothic War (535–54) and appointed the next three popes, a practice that would be continued by his successors and later be delegated to the Exarchate of Ravenna.

Greek speakers from Greece, Syria, and Byzantine Sicily replaced members of the powerful Roman nobles from Italian descent in the papal chair during this period.

Pope Gregory I (590–604) was a major figure in asserting papal primacy within the Papacy's local jurisdiction and gave the impetus to missionary activity in northern Europe, including England.

In 728, the Lombard King Liutprand took the Castle of Sutri, on the road to Perugia, but restored it to Pope Gregory II "as a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul".

In response to this threat, Pope Stephen II made an unusual journey north of the Alps to visit the Frankish king, Pepin III, to seek his help against the invading Lombards.

The land given to pope Stephen in 756, in the so-called Donation of Pepin, made the papacy a temporal power and for the first time created an incentive for secular leaders to interfere with papal succession.

The history of the papacy from 1048 to 1257 would continue to be marked by conflict between popes and the Holy Roman Emperor, most prominently the Investiture Controversy, a dispute over who—pope or emperor—could appoint bishops within the Empire.

The first seven Ecumenical Councils had been attended by both Western and Eastern prelates, but growing doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political and geographic differences finally resulted in mutual denunciations and excommunications.

Pope Urban II (1088–99) convened a council at Clermont in November 1095 with the hopes of reunion and lending support to the Byzantines who wanted to reclaim their lands lost to the Seljuk Turks.

Host cities enjoyed a boost to their prestige and certain economic advantages, but the municipal authorities risked being subsumed into the administration of the Papal States if they allowed the pope to overstay his welcome.

The skyline of Rome itself was now dominated by the fortified war-towers of the aristocracy (a hundred were built in Innocent IV's pontificate alone) and the popes increasingly spent their time in the papal palaces at Viterbo and Orvieto.

From the election of Pope Martin V of the Council of Constance in 1417 to the Reformation, Western Christianity was largely free from schism as well as significant disputed papal claimants.

Columbus' discovery in 1492 upset the unstable relations between the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile, whose jockeying for possession of colonial territories along the African coast had for many years been regulated by the papal bulls of 1455, 1456, and 1479.

Alexander VI responded with three bulls, dated May 3 and 4, which were highly favorable to Castile; the third Inter caetera (1493) awarded Spain the sole right to colonize most of the New World.

The pontificate of Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) opened up the final stage of the Catholic Reformation, characteristic of the Baroque age of the early seventeenth century, shifting away from compelling to attracting.

[37]Pope Leo XIII, considered a great diplomat, managed to improve relations with Russia, Prussia, German France, England and other countries.

[44] On behalf of Cardinal Pacelli, his long-time associate Prelate Ludwig Kaas, the out-going chairman of the Centre Party, negotiated first drafts of the terms with Papen.

The communist regimes in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and China practically eradicated the Catholic Church in their countries[53] On October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council.

On December 7, 1965, a Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I lifted the mutual excommunication against Catholic and Orthodox which had been in force since the Great Schism of 1054.

The urgent task of overcoming World poverty and start real development resulted partly in benign neglect of papal teachings by the influential and the rich.

[58] He suffered under the attacks of his predecessor for his alleged silences, knowing from personal association with the late pope the real concerns and compassion of Pius XII.

[58] Pope Paul is not credited to have had the encyclopaedic culture of Pius XII, nor his phenomenal memory, his amazing gift for languages, his brilliant style in writing,[59] nor did he have the Charisma and outpouring love, sense of humor and human warmth of John XXIII.

John Paul II has been credited with helping to bring down communism in eastern Europe by sparking what amounted to a peaceful revolution in his Polish homeland.

Lech Wałęsa, one of the several founders of the Solidarity worker movement that ultimately toppled communism, credited John Paul with giving Poles the courage to rise up.

The long pontificate of John Paul is credited with re-creating a sense of stability and even identity to the Catholic Church after years of questioning and searching.

[69] His authoritative style was reminiscent of Pope Pius XII, whose teaching he repeated in his own words, such as the identity of the Catholic Church with the Body of Christ and his condemnations of capitalism "viruses": secularism, indifferentism, hedonistic consumerism, practical materialism, and also formal atheism.