Essay/Term paper: Popes

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Social Issues

Popes


The Protestant Reformation marked a time of great religious, social and
political upheaval. For the first time in history the Christian church was
permanently shattered. The Reformation originated from a trend in returning to
the biblical days of Christianity and a renewal of morality. Unfortunately the
Catholic religious leaders didn't share in the renewal of morality. The
Renaissance popes were partially responsible for the decline of the
church;however, it was the Church's past history and changing social, political
and economic factors that lead to the Reformation's sucess.
Commercialization of the Holy See was common for most popes, but ,
according to Barbra Tuchman, three of these men took particular advantage of
the practice. Innocent VII is the earliest acknowledged pope during the
Renaissance to have taken liberties with the church's finances. Although he
engaged in the practices of simony and the selling of indulgences, his most
noted mistake was raising donations for a Crusade that never took place. In
1486 Innocent announced a crusade, as well as at the same time declaring a tithe
on all churches, benefices and ecclesiastical persons of all ranks. Military
plans were drawn up but, in the end, no great army ever assembled or departed
from Europe's shores. Instead, in a twist of irony, the Vatican wound up hosting
an infidel in the form of Prince Djem, the sultan's brother. This arrangement
confused the general public and the papal status fell in the eyes of the public.
Papal status was further weakened by Innocent's successor Alexander VI.
Alexander thrived on simony. He acquired the office of pope by buying out his
chief rivals and openly boasted about this feat. Alexander went on to sell a
total of 43 cardinalships, including to his own family. After the murder of his
eldest son, Alexander was inspired in a proposed Bull to try to reform the
church by reducing the incomes of the cardinals as well as mend other wicked
ways; however, provisions caused Alexander to return to normal and he never
issued the Bull. Perhaps if the Church had reformed during Alexander's reign,
Leo X would never have taken office. Leo is most noted for writing to his
brother "God has given us the papacy-let us enjoy it". Leo took this credo to
heart and was considered the most extravagant pope and one of the great spenders
of his time. He is most known for commissioning the rebuilding of St. Peter's,
as well as several well known works of art, and for his continuous festivities
during his reign. In order to fund his expenditures his chancery created 2000
salable offices, grossing an estimated total of 3 million ducats. Unfortunately
this sum still proved insufficient for Leo's largesse. He poured countless
amounts of money into idle wars and lavish displays. At his death he left the
Papacy over 800,000 ducats worth of debts. His enormous expenditures left the
Church in the lowest possible state of repute with the public and gave Martin
Luther the right atmosphere to revolt.
The church's reputation continued to decline because of the corruption
of church institutions. Plural holding of offices lead to absenteeism and the
practice of ad commendam. The first Renaissance pope, Sixtus IV, took great
advantage of appointing whomever he wanted in the College of Cardinals in the
interest of political favor. He often chose the younger sons of great families,
giving no thought to whether or not they were qualified to hold the position. He
gave the archiepiscopal see of Lisbon to an eight year old child and the see of
Milan to an eleven year old boy, both sons of princes. During his 13 years of
rule he "so thoroughly secularized the College that his successors followed his
example as if it were the rule"(74). The College of Cardinals became a bastion
for power hungry individuals. Most cardinals were of high class families who
bought the rank. Conditions in the College declined during Innocent VIII's rule.
As secularization advanced appointments were given more frequently to laymen,
sons and brothers of princes or designated agents of secular kings and monarchs
of which none had any sort of ecclesiastical training. Perhaps the greatest
example of buying ones way up the ladder is Giovanni de Medici, made abbot at
age eight and later to become the fifth Renaissance pope, Leo X. Absenteeism
occurred as cardinals collected many different bishoprics, abbeys and other
benefices as a way to augment their incomes. In the words of Lorenzo de Medici
the College of Cardinals was a "sink of all iniquity" full of men with high
incomes and low morals.
As corrupt morally as the cardinals were, the popes proved themselves to
be their equals in corruption. The highest church officials waved away their
vows of chastity and every pope used the office to enrich his family. The pope
to set the stage for nepotism was Sixtus IV. During his time in office he
bestowed the red hat of a cardinal on five nephews and a grandnephew, made
another a Bishop and used his influences to marry of four of his nephews and two
of his nieces into the ruling families of Italy. Sixtus' favorite nephew,
Pietro Riario, led a movement of uninhibited licentiousness and extravagance in
the College of Cardinals. This situation was not new : however, whereas other
popes made an effort to retard the moral decline, Sixtus did nothing. Eight
years later one of the most morally corrupt cardinals in the College became pope
Alexander VI. Alexander "proved as close to the prince of darkness as human
beings are likely to come" (Tuchman,88). Alexander literally seemed to thrive on
sin. Perhaps his best known and most depraved incident was his participation in
the Ballet of Chestnuts. There, guests danced and crawled around on the floor of
the Vatican naked, then afterwards were rewarded for coupling most often with
courtesans while Alexander, Cesare and Lucretia Borgia looked on. The Ballet is
but a small part of Alexander's depravity. He loved committing adultery, and
preferred his mistresses marry. He fathered three children as a cardinal and
four others while he was pope, the most famous of these being Cesare Borgia and
Lucretia Borgia. Alexander used his power in order to ensure the best marriages
for his children and a triumphant career as a leader for Cesare. The last
Renaissance pope to use his office to advance family fortune was Leo X. Having
no children of his own, Leo focused his efforts on his first cousin Giulio,
bastard son of Giuliano de Medici. First he legitimized Giulio's birth through
an affadavit. The boy went on to become a Cardinal and ,later on, the last
Renaissance pope, Clement VII. Overall, Leo distributed five cardinalships among
his cousins and nephews. Problems broke out when Leo decided to obtain the
duchy of Urbino for his nephew Lorenzo. He poured thousands of ducats into an
empty war on Urbino, leaving the Papacy in financial wreck. The Papacy was too
entrenched in its own lack of morality to provide any sort of spiritual guide
for the commoners.
The biggest crime of the Renaissance papacy, according to Tuchman, was
politicization of the Holy See. As a major landowner in Europe the Church also
functioned as a political power. The popes' greatest mistake was to entangle
themselves in numerous political alliances instead of tending towards the
spiritual concerns of their followers. The first pope to introduce this
"period of unabashed, unconcealed, relentless pursuit of personal gain and power
politics"(Tuchman,73)was Sixtus IV. He is most famous for his involvement in the
Pazzi conspiracy. In anger towards the violence of the Medici's punishment of
the Pazzi, he excommunicated Lorenzo de Medici and all of Florence. This use of
spiritual power for secular purposes blackened Sixtus reputation because of the
harm done to the Florentines and their economy, and because his reaction raised
suspicions about the pope's personal involvement in the conspiracy. Sixtus
reign was so "rancorous" that after his death Rome exploded into three weeks of
riot and plunder. His successor Innocent VIII did no better in the political
arena than Sixtus did. Innocent was plagued by the King of Naples constantly
harassing the papacy. When the King's army marched on Rome, Innocent sought
help, arousing France's interest. The King of Naples was temporarily frightened
into a peace agreement, but later on he scorned the Pope and incited many Papal
states into rebellion. Innocent drew up a Bull to excommunicate the King but
never issued it. The conflict was finally resolved with a marriage between
Innocent's niece and the King's grandson. This conflict diminished the
Papacy's status. Pamphlets were drawn up calling for an overthrow of the pope
and foreign powers became lax in upholding duties towards the church. When
Innocent's successor Alexander VI took over the papacy, Italy, constantly
warring among its states, was an attractive place for France and Spain to exert
their power. Upon appointment, Alexander took care of the papacy's political
fences by judiciously marrying two of his children to politically powerful
families and expanding the college of cardinals to include appointees from all
the powers; however, France still created trouble for the papacy. The French
king, Charle's VII, wanted to act upon the French claim to Naples. He called a
committee to draw up a plan to make his march through Italy look like a crusade
for reform of the Church with intent to depose Alexander. The French were
triumphant in conquering Florence and they paraded into Rome. Negotiations
insued and Alexander granted the French passage through papal territory to
Naples. No mention of reform was ever made during discussions. Alexander's
reign was one of extravagance and immorality, not religion. Alexander's
successor, Julius II was no better at maintaining the religious and moral
standards of the papacy. Julius was known through out his reign as the "Warrior
Pope". His all consuming passion was the restoration of the "political and
territorial integrity" of the Papal States and embellishment of his See. Julius
began with a campaign to regain the cities of Romagna, in which he was, through
much manipulation, successful. He continued in his goals by fighting to recover
Bologna and Perugia. Here the pope stunned Europe and scandalized the Christian
community by personally leading his army during battle. Julius' years as pope
were continuously focused on battle and bloodshed, not the moral safety and
guidance of his flock, and the people were becoming increasingly dissatisfied
as each pope came and went. Under Leo X the Protestant Break occurred,
permanently shattering united Christianity under the Roman See. Leo was the
exact opposite of his predecessor, Julius. Leo enjoyed peace and harmony. He
hardly noticed Luther's revolt in Germany. His only response was to issue a Bull
in 1518 excommunicating all who didn't believe and preach the Pope had the right
to sell indulgences. This proclamation was hardly effective, but the Pope was
too busy with his opulent lifestyle to care. At Leo's death the papacy and the
church were left at the "lowest possible repute because of the Lutheran sect"
according to historian Francesco Vettori. The next pope, Clement VII,
experienced many hardships during his reign. The German states converted to
Lutheranism one by one. Clement alienated England from the Church by refusing to
grant Henry VIII a divorce from Charles V's aunt. Final humiliation came on May
6,1527 with the sack of Rome by Spanish-German forces. Christians terrorized
fellow Christians in a riot of fire, pillage, plunder, murder and rape. The
sack was the visual representation of how far the image of Rome had sunk and
been demeaned by its rulers. It was viewed as divine punishment for the worldly
sins of those in the church hierarchy. Within approximately 64 years the papacy
had disgraced the reputation of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church was in decline before the Renaissance popes even
took power. During the fourteenth century the popes lived in Avignon, France
because of pressure from Phillip the Fair. This period of time is referred to as
the Babylonian Captivity. The Babylonian Captivity badly damaged the prestige of
the papacy. The seven popes who lived at Avignon focused mainly on bureaucratic
not spiritual matters. Italy suffered from the lack of stability the papacy had
provided and Rome's economy became poor from lack of tourists. Many people
pleaded for the papacy to return to Rome. Pope Gregory XI brought the papacy
back to Rome but didn't live to reign. The cardinals elected Urban VI. Urban had
excellent intentions for reform; however, he went about his goals in a
thoroughly distasteful manner. The cardinals declared Urban excommunicated and
elected Clement VII, who set up his administration in Avignon. The Great Schism
had begun. The powers of Europe aligned themselves either with Urban or with
Clement, depending solely on political lines. Those countries who supported
France aligned with Clement. The impact of the Northern Renaissance, especially
Christian humanism, aided the Protestant reformation.. France's enemies sided
with Urban. The Great Schism confused the common people and weakened the
religious faith of many. The Schism was the great scandal that "rent the
seamless garment of Christ" as the Church was called. This scandal produced
cries for reform. The two colleges of cardinals summoned a council at Pisa to
depose both popes and elect another. The council ended in disaster because
neither pope would resign, causing a three-way split. Another council met and
succeeded in deposing the Roman pope and the pope at Pisa, limiting the Avignon
pope's influence and electing a new pope, Martin V. Martin dissolved the
council, ending the councilor movement. Nothing was done about reform as it
ought to have been. Many of the parish priests were uneducated and barely
literate. Christian humanists in the north scoffed at how ignorant these men
were. Further up the church hierarchy pluralism and, as a result, absenteeism
were becoming permanent problems. Many clerics held many benefices but rarely
visited them. Instead the clerics would pay a parish priest to fulfill the
spiritual duties of a particular church. Many of the clerics held secular
offices as well as religious benefices and were paid by the church for working
for the state, thus downgrading the importance of tending the Christian flock.
The Catholic Church was in so much decline that the Renaissance popes were just
part of the downfall.
Protestant reformers all used ideas and arguments based on the writings
of well known Christian humanists. The humanist whose writings formed the basis
for most reformers was Erasmus of Rotterdam. Although quite the Anabaptists were
quite radical at times, their views followed some of what Erasmus taught.
Erasmus was a confirmed pacifist. In his essay Julius II Excluded from Heaven,
Erasmus condemned the warrior pope for his behavior by asking "what kind of
monster wears the garment of a priest over the bristle and clink of bloody
armor". Both Erasmus and the Anabaptists believed that to be truly holy one
must be a pacifist. The The majority of the Anabaptists were non-violent and
made no attempt at revising the social or political order of the world around
them. Other Protestant reformers favored peace but could not attain it. Ulrich
Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, originally adopted a pacifist attitude towards the
world. Unfortunately he had to abandon this view in order to combat the efforts
of the Swiss Confederation to resist the spread of Zwinglism. Zwingli later died
on the battlefield, fighting to defend his views. The life of Zwingli very much
resembled Erasmus' and Zwingli's beliefs were based heavily on Erasmus' writings.
Like Erasmus, Zwingli was a Christian humanist schooled in Latin, Greek and
Hebrew. Zwingli's interests centered particularly around the Bible. Erasmus'
Greek edition of the New Testament allowed Zwingli to arrive at the conclusion
that much of what the Catholic church preached had no scriptural basis and
therefore shouldn't be followed. Zwingli was also to follow Erasmus' example in
"The Shipwreck" and preach against superstition and veneration of saints. Most
of these sermons were aimed at the abuses, not the institution from which the
abuses came. Another great sermonizer was the most well known Protestant
reformer, Martin Luther. Luther strongly supported "The Shipwreck"'s argument
against the veneration of saints. In Luther's religion all saints days were
abolished and not even the Virgin Mary was venerated as a saint. Yet another of
Erasmus' ideas Luther adopted was Erasmus' "Philosophy of Christ". Erasmus
believed "all can be Christian, all can be devout and..all can be theologians."
Luther used this philosophy to found one of the major doctrines of Lutheranism:
the church consists of the entire community of Christian believers. Luther
believed that every man could act as his own preacher. In order to accomplish
this everyone must become literate enough to read the Bible. Luther also
abolished the church hierarchy. Later on he would add four types of clergy, but
all jobs remained equal in merit. Luther believed that one didn't have to be a
member of the clergy to attain salvation. G-d was a merciful G-d and salvation
was granted through G-d's action, not good works. Erasmus's beliefs supported
and aided many of the Protestant sects beginnings.
As far back as the fourteenth century church doctrine was being
challenged. One of the earliest reformers was John Wycliff during the early
fourteenth century. Wycliff identified the Catholic church as "the anti-Christ".
Wycliff and his followers, the Lollards, met an untimely death for their heresy.
John Hus, fifteenth century Bohemian reformer, was also killed for his
preachings against the church. Both of these men appeared in the wrong place
and at the wrong time to be able to be much of an influence on the Church. It
wasn't until the sixteenth century, when German reformer Martin Luther appeared,
that any motions towards a reformation occurred. Martin Luther, much like Hus,
was a man of peasant background and great courage. Luther's conflict with the
Catholic church began with his attack on indulgences. He invited discussion
about indulgences by posting his famous Ninety five Thesis on the door of
Wittenburg Castle. In this document Luther stated "The pope has no power to
remit any guilt except by declaring it...remitted by G-d" (Thesis 6) In this
statement Luther stated what was to be one of the two pillars of the Protestant
movement: People are saved by the decision of G-d alone. The other pillar was
the idea of solo fide: by faith alone does G-d send man his grace. Luther
rejected the Catholic notion that salvation relied upon good works, such as
fasting and pilgrimages. Luther argued that such things "can be done an impious
person and only hypocrites are produced by devotion to these things." Faith was
the only way man could achieve salvation in Luther's view. Luther also
emphasized that, being the word of G-d, Scriptures were the final authority on
religion. In Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our G-d", he wrote "God's Word
forever shall abide/ No thanks to foes, who fear it". Whereas in Catholicism the
Latin Vulgate is the final authority in Scripture, Luther argued that every man
could interpret Scripture for himself. To aid in this task Luther had the Bible
translated into German. He rejected the church hierarchy, as well, in favor of a
"priesthood of believers". To Luther, all work was sacred. One didn't have to
become a monk or priest to serve G-d in his occupation. Luther also reduced the
number of sacraments from seven to two. The only two sacraments Luther retained
were baptism and the Eucharist; however, Luther favored the idea of
consubstantiation instead of transubstantation during the Eucharist. Luther's
follower, John Calvin, was the second generation of church reformers. Like
Luther, Calvin also believed in salvation by faith alone; however, Calvin placed
more emphasis on God's omnipotence and man's insignificance. Calvin also became
most well known for his idea of predestination. Calvin believed that some
people, called the elect, were destined to be saved, where as all others, the
reprobate, were to be damned. Calvin did, however, identify three indications
that one was to be saved: an open profession of faith, a decent and godly life
and participation in the two sacraments of baptism and communion. Calvin
differed from Luther in believing the Eucharist to be symbolic of Christ's body
and blood. Luther believed that Christ is present after consecration of the
bread and wine. The difference seems insignificant to the outsider, but did
present a difference between Calvinists and Lutherans. Several different
reformers' doctrinal challenges to the Catholic Church caused the Protestant
Reformation to succeed and the split between Protestants and Catholics to be
permanent.
Europe's economic, social and political climate contributed the
most to Luther's success. Luther was an eloquent, charismatic man who appealed
to the many classes. Secular officials resented the privileges the church
claimed. Monks and nuns paid no taxes and were exempt from civil duties. The
monasteries where they lived often occupied large amounts of land.
Protestantism gave civil officials the right to claim the Church's land and
place clergy under civil law. Intelligent and educated people were
dissatisfied with the quality and irregularity of church sermons. As a result,
many prosperous burghers paid learned men to deliver about a hundred sermons a
year, each lasting forty-five minutes. Luther's ideas attracted many of these
endowed preachers and in certain cities these preachers became Protestant
leaders. Christian humanists were attracted to Luther's simpler service and his
emphasis on a return to the early church. Peasants were attracted by Luther's
statement " A Christian man is the most free lord of all and subject to none".
Luther was of peasant stock and he sympathized with the peasants' plight;
however, Luther abandoned his support of the peasantry after they used his
statement as an invitation to incite a rebellion. Luther meant that a Christian
man only had freedom to obey the Word of God, instead of the Catholic church.
Luther supported the secular rulers and later in his theology subordinated the
church to the state. Luther's theology appealed especially to women as well as
the social classes. Luther exalted the home, which he stressed was the domain of
the woman. Luther's argument that all vocations are equal in the eyes of G-d
gave dignity to those who performed ordinary, everyday tasks. Protestants
abolished the practice of confession and declared sex a natural part of life,
freeing women from the embarrassment and guilt of sharing their sex lives with a
confessor. Luther also stressed marriage for clergy members, giving priest's
concubines and mistresses the status of legal and honorable wives. Luther's
idea of educating girls, as well as boys, in the catechism also proved
attractive to women. Politically Luther appealed to the German princes.
Luther's translation of the New Testament into German evoked national pride,
German nationalism and strong anti-Roman sentiment. This inspired Frederick of
Saxony to welcome Luther into Saxony and inspired other princes, such as Phillip
of Hesse, to tolerate Protestant reformers. Luther urged princes to seize the
Church's property and bring about moral reform in the church. The Church owned
large tracts of land in Germany and German princes realized the opportunity to
gain wealth by breaking from the church. A steady stream of duchies, margravites,
free cities and bishoprics became followers of Luther. The Protestant princes
allied with one another to form the Schmalkaldic League in order to fight the
efforts of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to return the princes to
Catholicism. The French king, Francis I, supported the Schmalkaldic League in
their resistance against Charles. Although Charles won every battle he couldn't
get rid of Protestantism in Germany.
The Church's past history and Europe's changing political, social and
economic climate contributed more to the Reformation's success than the
Renaissance popes did. Had Luther lived in a different time and a different
area his Reformation would have been cut down like its predecessors.