Helping or Harming Religion?

Dateline: November 03, 1999

Allies or Enemies?

But just because a pope was appointed by governmental authorities did not mean that he was safe. Of those 12 popes appointed by Germanic Holy Roman Emperors, five were deposed. Secular rulers imprisoned, exiled and did worse to popes who developed a mind of their own. Of the popes "elected" between 872 and 1012, fully one third died under suspicious circumstances. John VII was bludgeoned to death, Steven VI was strangled and John X was suffocated.

Martin I was arrested and tried for treason when he tried to declare Emperor Contans II a heretic - although he was sentenced to death, Constans II decided instead to exile him where he died of malnutrition. Others suffered even worse fates - in fact, the violent political infighting made the Vatican of the Middle Ages very much akin to Chicago of the Roaring Twenties. Although the physical dangers to the popes gradually decreased through the Middle Ages, it never fully abated. At on point, the papal residence had to be moved from Rome to Avignon in France for 70 years

Corruption

Death wasn't the only threat facing church leaders - serious corruption developed quickly and attacked the highest levels of the church. This shouldn't be surprising - the monetary and secular influence brought into the church by the government, when added to the ecclesiastical influence they already had, served to make church rulers rival their secular allies in power. And the more power church leaders gathered to themselves, the more they craved.

Alexander VI lived openly and unapologetically with a mistress while using papal powers and influence to help his illegitimate sons and daughters. Some historians believe that he poisoned some of his own cardinals in order to get their property. Sextus IV appointed six of his nephews to cardinals and arranged for other nephews and nieces to be married into rich, noble families. Julius II fathered three daughters while he was a cardinal and then, while pope, dressed in full armor to personally lead troops into battle. John XII was a notorious womanizer and was caught in the act with a married woman by her husband, who promptly beat the pope to death.

Papal elections were rife with bribery and corruption, with the office of pope often going to whomever had the most monetary or familial influence over the electing cardinals. Benedict VI, for example, was an extremely unpopular candidate by only got the job because of his personal connections with Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. Unfortunately, Otto died a few months after the papal elections and the powerful families opposed to Benedict VI had him imprisoned, where he was eventually strangled to death on the orders of the appointed successor, Boniface VII.

Secular vs. Spiritual Power

As history progressed, popes became primarily engaged in protecting and preserving the powers they had acquired under previous regimes. This effort became more intense as people tired of the rampant corruption and sought to reform the church from within. Hatred and resentment against the church had been building up for centuries, and it found release in things like the Reformation, the French Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. The people had become so disillusioned with the church that Napoleon was able to imprison both Pius VI and Pius VII with little fear of public backlash.

But history was against the papacy's interest in worldly power. Gradually, their secular authority was eroded away by governments anxious for more power themselves. By the middle of the 20th century, the vast papal holdings in Italy had been reduced to the tiny area of the Vatican City and few if any governmental authorities were interested in directly aiding church interests.

But interestingly, the more secular and direct authority the popes lost, the more moral and "spiritual" authority they gained not only among Catholics, but among the rest of the world's populace. By no longer trying to directly control how people lived their lives, the more willing people have become to voluntarily listen to what the popes have to say on moral and spiritual issues. Part of this I am sure has to do with the fact that people now have more of an option to ignore papal directives when they so choose. At one time they had no such choice, and so people tended to chafe at all orders from the pope, even the ones they might have been willing to agree with voluntarily.

Now, however, people have many more choices than before because few governments are attempting to privilege the Catholic church by enforcing church doctrines with secular laws. Although many church doctrines are at odds with what people generally want today, people nevertheless tend to give the pope a great deal of personal and moral respect. The office of the pope is much more widely and highly respected today, when the pope has less secular authority than at any time since Contantine, then it did when the church was at the height of its secular power.

The lesson for contemporary religious organizations should be clear: Beware of Governments bearing Gifts. If religious organizations want to remain an independent and moral force in society, they will actually have to be independent, and that means not taking direct support from the government. Support and money always end up having strings attached, and those strings will in the long run undermine both authority and respect.

Don't miss the other section:

Part 1: Government Meddling

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