Papal Domination

Reference

Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia

"The universalist claims made by both, the Latin and the Greek Churches, led in 1054 to a split between Rome and Constantinople [East-West Schism]. But within a quarter of a century the Pope was presented with an opportunity to reassert the supremacy of the Latin Church over the dissident Greeks, when the Byzantine emperor appealed to Rome for help against the advancing Seljuk Turks. . . . In many European countries as much as a fourth of the land became church property. In the eleventh century the Papacy deprived the emperor of his customary right to appoint the local bishops, which meant that secular rulers lost control over a considerable part of their dominions - for the clergy claimed exemption from taxation. . . . In the thirteenth century Germany fell into disunion and the French king began to play the role of guardian and rival to the pope. . . . The struggle between French and Anti-French forces led to the election of Pope and Anti-Pope." The Western Schism from 1378 to 1417 ended the era of papal domination. "Each Pope excommunicated the adherents of his rival, so that by one standard or another all Christendom was damned during this time." [Nothiger, p. 18, 21]