The political struggles of the Middle Ages led to the appointmemt of papal Legates under Gregory VII[1] who had authority over
Bishops and carried the weight of the Roman Pontificate as their authority even over all Civil Powers. Here we can see the open declaration that all Roman popes were declared to head both Pontifical (Church) and Imperial (State) Power. Gregory VII, by Edict, declared the whole world a "Christian Commonwealth" under control of the pope of Rome. In the Dictatus Papae, Gregory VII papally decreed these things:
1. That the Roman pontiff alone is rightly called universal.
2. That the Roman pope alone has the power to depose and reinstate bishops.
3. That the pope alone may use the Imperial Insignia.
4. That all princes shall kiss the foot of the pope alone.
5. That the pope has the power to depose Emperors.
6. That the pope can be judged by no one.
7. That no one can be regarded as "catholic" who does not agree with the Roman pope.
8. That the pope has the power to absolve subjects from any oath to whoever the pope decided were "wicked rulers".[2]
9. Any appeal to the Papal court overules and stops any other court action on a matter, including Civil courts.
10. All Papal Legates, even if inferior, have authority over all Bishops of the Church.
11. All ordained popes have always had and will always have automatic Sainthood "by the merits of Saint Peter".
12. The Roman pope alone holds the power to depose or restore Bishops.
13. The Roman pope alone has the power to translate Bishops to another See.
14. The Roman Church was established by Christ alone.
15. The Roman Church has never erred and will never err until the end of time.
In Gregory VIIs' own words:
"We loosed the chain of the anathema and at length received him into the favor of communion and into the lap of the Holy Mother Church."
This was a blatant usurpation of the Civil Power.
What did the Church do?
THE CONCORDAT OF WORMS 1122
The Church Convened at The Concordat of Worms in 1122 and Ruled that there was to be a "Separation of Church and State". Authorized by Emperor Henry V.
Rome was not pleased. They rebuked the Eastern Church of being too submissive to the Civil Power, and not following Romes' leadership. Soon, under Innocent III, a "Crusade to Free Jerusalem" was formed and the "Crusaders" changed course to Constantinople which they then sacked. Drunken "Crusader-Knights" danced on the altars of the Eastern Churches and destroyed them. They never went to Jerusalem. Rome then got very busy fulfilling the Edicts of Gregory
VII and holding sway as "supreme".
That is, until a little over 400 years later, with Luther, Calvin and Zwingli and the Protestant Reformation.
Copyright 2003 People of G-d Inc. All Rights Reserved. Not for reproduction or redistribution without Written Permission and Consent of People of G-d Inc.
