A Very Brief History of the Papacy

Introduction

The Papacy is the office of the Pope. The word pope comes from the Latin form of the word “Papa” which means father. The office of the Pope or rather the papacy is responsible for a wide variety of things. Specifically the Papacy’s main responsibility is the spiritual well being of the members of the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church rose to power in the 6th century and lasted throughout the 9th century. There were several different circumstantial and also coincidental factors that contributed to the high regard of the church by the 6th century. The beginning was the church’s unsolicited popularity. This could be linked to its relationship with the early apostles. The Roman Church was the first in the empire to be established by the Apostles. Since the 4th century the Roman Empire was being primed to receive the church as the highest power in its land. When the barbarians started their invasion on Rome the church had a very powerful leader at the time. Pope Gregory I was responsible for Rome’s finances, food, water supply, and policing. He put a new face to the Papacy. He established a new Liturgy of the church. Liturgy means a service to the people.

There were several different factors that contributed to its dominance of Western Europe until the reformation. The main contribution would have to of been the invasion by barbarians. As the barbarians invaded the church converted. Their motto was, “to convert the monarch and the people would eventually follow . There were positive and negative ramifications to this reality. We see the Carolingian Renaissance, which was brought on by the conversion of the Franks, and the Monastic Ideal. The monastery consists of monks and nuns. Literature s...

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