February 24 - Not so Innocent

February 24 – Not so Innocent

For eighteen years, Innocent III built a powerful papacy (1198-1216). In 1215, he called the Fourth Lateran Council. At this council, they set forth hundreds of decrees for the church in ust three days.

Innocent thought that every Christian should display a little bit of Christianity, so rules were set in place that every person had to make confession to a priest annually to be able to take communion. The doctrine of transubstantiation was officially part of the church. The elements of communion actually were the body and blood of Christ. This had been around for a long time, but now it was official. By doing this, the church took greater control of its people.

Communion was a critical part of salvation – if you were denied communion (such as those who were excommunicated), your soul was in jeopardy. Now that the priest actually linked communion to the blood and body of Christ, it became even more powerful. Excommunication now would deny the person access to Christ Himself!

Innocent declared that the pope was the “Vicar of Christ” rather than just the Vicar of Peter. The pope was Christ’s representative on earth – a mediator between God and man, below God but beyond man.

At this point, it was a bad idea to disagree with the church. If you did, you also put your soul in jeopardy and those who might listen to you. Anyone who didn’t remove a ‘heretic’ (one who disagreed with the church), faced excommunication and full cooperation would bring full forgiveness.

This council forced Jews to wear special identifying badges. Oh, you thought that Hitler made this up? No … the early church came up with this idea. Christians were forbidden to trade with them and the rules set in place led to the formation of Jewish ghettos.

The church absolutely refused to allow kings to appoint bishops. King John of England had appointed the archbishop of Canterbury and Innocent refused to accept him. When King John balked, Innocent excommunicated him. This then brought the King’s throne into play and Jon finally submitted.

A powerful and charismatic man created the church that would remain influential in Europe until the Reformation.