February 26 - Continued papal deterioration

February 26 – Continued papal deterioration

In 1294, an elderly priest came to Rome as Pope. Rather than live a life of excess and royalty, he believed that he served the people. Dressed in brown robes, he entered the city on a donkey, barefoot, as common as could be. He tried to not be pope, but was finally persuaded by the cardinals to take on the responsibility.

He issued several decrees, one of which was that the cardinals were to be shut away into conclave to elect a new pope and another which was the right of a pope to abdicate. Five months after becoming pope, he did just that and left Rome to continue living a quiet, righteous life.

He wasn’t allowed to live that life. The next pope – Boniface VIII sent for him. Celestine attempted to escape, was captured and imprisoned and died ten months later whether from bodily deterioration or murder by Boniface, no one is certain.

Boniface VIII was an intriguing character and one that would be described in Dante’s “Divine Comedy” as being in the circle of hell. Those two men feuded during his reign. In 1302, Boniface VIII issued a decree that the only means of salvation for man was to be subject to the Roman pontiff. This set him up in opposition with the ruling leaders of the time.

Boniface VIII began feuding with Philip IV of France, insisting that God had set the pope over kings and kingdoms and then set forth a decree stating that all power was subject to the pope and that kings were subordinate to the church.

Philip sent a group to force him to resign. They ended up kidnapping him for three days, releasing him and then he died not long after. The rumors of his death range from poisoned figs to him chewing off his own arm and bashing his head against a wall to commit suicide, but most likely he died of kidney stones.

Following an eight-months reign by Benedict XI (who it was also rumored was poisoned), Clement V came into power. The most notable moments of his term in office were that he terminated the Knights Templar and then moved the papal offices to Avignon, France, a move that cemented his power with the French monarchy. He set aside all of Boniface VIII’s decrees regarding the power structure between the church and the monarchy.

Philip was also interested in getting rid of the Templars. He wanted their money and to build his reputation. Clement was encouraged to accuse them of heresy. Those in France were rounded up, many were executed.

Within a few short years, the church had gone from ‘ruling’ the world to being subject to the French crown. Ahhh, the vagaries of man.