The Papacy: The Institutional Church at the Highest Levels

I. The Origins and Growth of the Papacy

Protestants, Puritans, and Anti-Catholicism

Biblical and Ideological Origins

Various Meanings of the Term Pope

590-604 (bishop of rome, leader of church changing to Pope)
always contested by the East.

1073 Gregory VII admonishes a Bishop for being called Pope (and not being the Roman Arch Bishop.)

1.Pontifex Maximus

Chief Priest of the Roman Pagan polity. Used as early as Turtullian to critique the Bishop of Rome. Eventually taken and used by the Catholic Church.

2.Vicar of St. Peter - Pope mediates, through direct apostolic succession. In the 12th century this becomes vicar of Christ which alludes to the late and slow development of papal doctrines.


The Early Claims of Rome

Peter, Apostolicity, and Succession

The Role of Rome in Settling Doctrinal Disputes

Rome as the Capital of the Empire

St. Augustine and The City of God


II - How the Bishop of Rome Became the Pope

A.The Political Context in the Late Empire

A.The Early Life and Theology of Gregory I

procession of penance that stops the plague in Rome in its tracks.

Italy and the Lombards

Gregory and Monasticism, A.D. 574

A.The Papacy of Gregory the Great, 590-604

Assumption of Civil Authority

a.Patrimony of Peter 13-1800 sq. miles - land that people had left the church in order to have the church look favorably upon them.

b.City Provisions he had been the prefect of Rome, now he is the Bishop. He handled the giving of food to people.

c.Diplomacy with the Lombards - deals with the Lombards themselves. 592 arranged peace with a duke. By 602 (by the end of his pontificate) the king and queen of the Lombards have their Child baptized by Gregory.

d.Practical and Theoretical Assertion of Authority - the Bishop of Rome is responsible for the whole church. All Bishops are to be corrected by the pope. Even the decisions of councils must be approved by the Pope. Began to give order to this unstable world.

Extending Rome's Authority

a.Correspondence with Bishops

b.Missionary Activity- Augustine(the lesser, taking a trip to England to bring it under the order of the Catholic church). A connection between missionary movement and the Pope. Columba, Wilfred, Willbrord 6th century missionaries who looked for official sanction from the Pope.

c.Monasteries

Gregory as Latin Doctor of the Church

a.Gregory Main Works

1.The Pastoral Care - shows the attitude a person should bring to the office. Shows a great social concern for adapting various forms of preaching to various types of people. "the care of souls in the classic tradition."

2.Commentary on Job, or Moralia - a moralization of scripture, uses a allegory in sort of shady ways.

3.Dialogues on the . . . Miracles of the Italian Fathers -

4.Correspondence - massive, some 800 letters.

b.Gregory Conception of Purgatory and the Mass - reflects them, sums them up and furthers them with Papal authority.