Pope

The history of the papacy is a major factor in history, especially the Middle Ages.

The Pope has been the head of the Roman Catholic Church for over 1600 years. The Eastern orthodox churches reject his claims to primacy. Even more vigorously the Protestant Reformation reject the Papacy and theology of the Roman Catholic Church. As a secular leaders the Popes controlled Rome and the Papal States in central Italy until 1870, and especially in the 16th century were notable patrons of the arts, turning St. Peter's Church in Rome into an architectural wonder, especially notable for the artwork in its Sistine Chapel.

Since 1929 the Pope controls only the small Vatican city-state (located inside Rome), but has diplomatic relations with most nations. The Pope's power comes from his appointment of all the bishops in the Catholic Church, and from his ability (since 1870) to proclaim a theological doctrine infallibly. The history of the Popes is interwoven with the history of the Catholic Church and the history of Europe. In terms of personalities and morality, the 262 Popes were saints and sinners who ranged very widely indeed.In recent centuries most have been holy men and in recent decades they have been linguists able to speak to Catholics in many languages. In recent centuries most Popes have been scions of Italian nobility; notable exceptions are Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) the first Polish Pope, and Benedict XVI (2005- ) the first German since 1523.

Traditions

Catholic tradition argues that Christ told Peter to found a church, and that he built one in Rome, that all Popes descend from him, and the bishop of Rome has divine authority to rule over the Church. Protestants say the Biblical texts are too short and obscure to bear the weight of an elaborate infrastructure that was erected many centuries after Christ, and that the Papacy interferes with the direct relationship between Christ and the sinner. Indeed, the history of the Reformation is the history of the rejection of the Papacy, while the history of the Counter-Reformation is the history of its reform and partial restoration to power using moral authority, diplomacy, and orders such as the Jesuits.

Biblical texts

Catholics emphasize that Jesus told Simon Peter:

thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Peter (and Paul) did found a church in Rome in 42 A.D. and served as the bishop for 25 years until 67 A.D. when he was martyred. However, as Duffy points out, "wherever we turn, the solid outlines of the Petrine succession at Rome seem to blur and dissolve." That is, the primacy of the bishop of Rome in the Western Roman Empire was not established for several centuries, and even then was rejected by eastern bishops who formed the Eastern Orthodox Church under the leadership of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

1815 to 1914

Pius VII (1800-23) was stripped of powers by Napoleon but made a striking comeback after Napoleon's fall in 1815. Pius VII was a deeply religious Benedictine, and a theologian; he lived simply and avoided nepotism. His unusually able Secretary of State Cardinal Consalvi won the restoration to the Pope of most of the territories in Italy which Napoleon had seized. He reinvigorated numerous monastic orders and helped create new societies for men and women, especially those engaged in teaching and missionary work. Most important was the restoration of the Jesuits in 1814; they had been suppressed in most countries. They grew larger and even more influential in the 19th century. After 1800 the Papacy became the center of conservatism in Europe in reaction against the liberalism of the French Revolution and its admirers. The Papacy recognized that throughout Europe millions of peasants and poor folk were devoted to the saints and traditions of the Church; the Popes responded energetically by promoting new Marian devotions (such as the rosary). Rome had fallen into disrepair and Pius VII began the restoration of the city's artistic glories, an enterprise that continues into the 21st century.

Since 1914

John XXIII (1958-63) enjoyed uniformly favorable, if sometimes puzzled, treatment from the English-language media. Initially, the focus was on his wit and warm personality. His unexpected calling of Vatican Council II and his major encyclicals - Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris - transformed his image into that of a bold innovator. In the end, it was his concern for world peace at the height of the Cold War and his effort to reach beyond Catholics to address all people of good will that won Pope John XXIII universal praise and affection.

Holocaust Issues

Coppa (2005) reassesses the attitudes and policies toward Nazi racism of Pope Pius XI (1922-1939). Although Pius XI accepted and practiced religious anti-Judaism, he consistently opposed racial anti-Semitism on theological grounds throughout his papacy. As a result, he resisted the course of accommodation and conciliation favored by others within the Catholic Church, including Eugenio Pacelli (1876-1958), who served as papal secretary of state from 1930 prior to succeeding Pius XI as Pope Pius XII in 1939. Between 1933 and 1939 Pius XI waged a campaign against Nazi and Fascist racism and anti-Semitism that included public speeches and published condemnations denouncing the division of humanity on the basis of race as well as the commission of a "secret" encyclical on the incompatibility of racism and Catholicism that remained unpublished until 1995. His confrontational stance therefore sharply contrasted with the silence of Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust.

Bibliography

Surveys

• Catholic Encyclopedia, "The Pope" (1913) online edition many articles on all the Popes and related topics
• Coppa, Frank J., ed. Encyclopedia of the Vatican and Papacy. Greenwood, 1998. 473 pp.
• Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, (3rd ed 2006), 496pp; Yale University Press; heavily illustrated history by leading Catholic scholar
• LaDue, William J. The Chair of Saint Peter: A History of the Papacy. Orbis Books, 1999. 374 pp.

• Levillain, Philippe, ed. The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, 2001. 1780 pp.
• Steimer, Bruno and Parker, Michael G., ed. Dictionary of Popes and the Papacy. Crossroad, 2001. 278 pp.

Specialized studies

• Baumgartner, Frederic J. Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. 272 pp.
• Brown, Peter. The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD (2002), 640pp
• Ralph J. Capio; "The Papacy: A Case Study in Organizational Longevity," Journal of European Studies, Vol. 26, 1996. online edition
• H. Daniel-Rops. The Church in the Eighteenth Century (1964)
• H. Daniel-Rops. The Church in an Age of Revolution (1965).
• E. E. Y. Hales. Revolution and Papacy, 1769-1846, (1960)
• Mullett, Michael A. The Catholic Reformation, (1999), online edition
• New Catholic 'Encyclopedia (1967)
• Pastor, Ludwig. History of the Popes From the Close of the Middle Ages, (1894-1930), 16 vol, older Catholic history online from books.google.com
• Ullmann, Walter. A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, (2002), 393pp, online edition
• Wright, A. D. The Early Modern Papacy: From the Council of Trent to the French Revolution 1564-1789. Longman, 2000. 335 pp.

Specific Popes

• Collins, Jeffrey. Papacy and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Rome: Pius VI and the Arts. Cambridge U. Press, 2004. 355 pp.
• Coppa, Frank J., ed. Great Popes through History: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood, 2002. 600 pp.
• Gouwens, Kenneth and Reiss, Sheryl E., ed. The Pontificate of Clement VII: History, Politics, Culture. Ashgate, 2005. 437 pp.
• Kelly, J.N.D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (1988). 349pp; scholarly short biographies; online edition

=Since 1870

• Owen Chadwick. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. (1998), 616pp; a standard recent history. online edition,
• Coppa, Frank J. The Modern Papacy since 1789. Longman, 1998. 296 pp.
• Coppa, Frank J. "Between Anti-Judaism And Anti-Semitism, Pius XI's Response To The Nazi Persecution Of The Jews: Precursor To Pius Xii's "Silence"?" Journal Of Church And State 2005 47(1): 63-89. Issn: 0021-969x Fulltext: in Ebsco
• Gillis, Chester, ed. The Political Papacy: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Their Influence. Paradigm, 2006. 208 pp.
• Holland, Joe. Modern Catholic Social Teaching: The Popes Confront the Industrial Age 1740-1958. Paulist Press, 2003. 404 pp.
• Pollard, John F. Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850-1950. Cambridge U. Press, 2005. 265 pp.
• Rittner, Carol and Roth, John K., ed. Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. Leicester U. Press, 2002. 291 pp.