Decline of the Church’s Prestige

1. Decline of the Church’s Prestige Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism

2. Troubles of the Medieval Church • It had become corrupt! • The church had come to believe that it existed for the benefit of those who conducted its affairs • Pope Boniface VIII in Rome (1302) prohibited the taxation of the clergy by a civil ruler • UNAM SANCTAM: outside the Roman Church there was no salvation and that “every human creature was subject to the Roman pontiff.”

3. 1303: -King Phillip the Fair, (French) sent soldiers to arrest Boniface at his summer retreat, Anagni near Rome. Boniface was released some days later but died soon after.

4. Avignon Papacy • 1309: Under the influence of Phillip the Fair, the College of Cardinals elected Clement VI. • Instead of taking up his See in Rome, he took up residence in the town of Avignon near the Rhine river (part of France at the time) with his court and officials. BABILONIAN CAPTIVITY • There followed French popes in succession all in Avignon • Pope during this time was considered a tool of France • Rome was left poverty stricken without the presence of the Papal Court

5. The Pomp • What the Church had lost in prestige she made up for in temporal prestige. • Luxurious living, banquets and fine living • Everything the Church had or was could be bought. • Unlimited simony (selling of offices) • benefices: an ecclesiastical office to which the revenue from an endowment is attached.

6. What was for sale • legitimization of children (many of priests) • to permit nuns to keep two maids • to permit a converted Jew to visit his unconverted parents • to trade with the infidel Moslem • a Christian burial • a pardon for sins ( indulgences) • cardinal's hat, pilgrim's relic • to cancel a vow of chastity or fasting • for penance the estimated cost of a pilgrimage would be calculated and paid • Sellers of pardons: officials commissioned by the Church that would sell absolution for any sin. These were the ones at the bottom of the church ladder who had most contact with the people

7. The Great Schism • 1377: Pope Gregory XI restored papal court to Rome, but soon died • Roman citizens stormed the conclave, many threatening to kill all the cardinals if they didn't elect an Italian Pope • Urban VI, an Italian was elected (he was not even a cardinal) • Urban quickly grew unpopular and weeks later cardinals slipped away to Anagni and elected Clement II creating the Great Schism • Prestige of the Papacy as a universal institution was badly damaged

8. Two Popes • French recognized the Avignon Popes • Rest of Europe viewed the Avignon Popes as tools of the French • England and Germany recognized the Roman Pope • For forty years both lines were perpetuated

9. Public Response to the Schism • With two popes and two papacies to support, complaints grew about the extravagance and worldliness of papal rule • With two churches under two popes, each claiming to hold the keys to Peter, how could they be certain that their church gave true salvation? • In a deeply religious world, this sense of religious insecurity was a source of dread. • Religious anxieties contributed to brutal anti-Jewish violence • Also, an obsession with the fear of witches (mostly older women will be charged)

10. Papal officialdom grew in numbers, ignoring deeper problems while busily transacting each day’s business. • ANNATE: every bishop or abbot had to transmit to Rome most of the 1st year’s income from his office. • It must be remembered that all this happened in a Europe traumatized by the plague, and with a declining amount of people expected to bear increasing financial burden

11. “Death Triumphant” Flagellants

12. Obscure Parish Priests & other Learned Clerics • Began to doubt the powers of their church superiors • Disaffection with the church, or the thought that it might not be the true or only way to salvation spread in all ranks of society • Not only kings who disputed the claims of the clergy, but also obscure parish priests

13. These unsettling ideas spread widely • In England, those who held them were known as Lollards. • About 1380: John Wycliff was saying that the true church could do without elaborate possessions; an organized church not necessary for salvation, since ordinary, devout persons could do without priests and read the Bible, which he translated into English • In Bohemia in central Europe, John Huss was the spokesman for these ideas (Hussites)

14. Conciliar Movement • Pressure from influential church leaders called for a General Council • 1409: Church Council of Pisa, worked to pressure the reluctant and rival popes to end the schism • Declared the reigning popes deposed and elected another, but the first two refused to resign, creating three popes • 1414: Council of Constance ended the threefold schism • Next 40 years saw a struggle of wills between the Council and Pope • 1449: Conciliar Movement ended with the Papacy assuming its prestige and freedom. • Papacy passed into the hands of a series of cultivated men, men of the world, men of “modern” outlook in tune with their times, the Renaissance Popes.