PRINCIPLE STEPS OF COMING TO POWER

What were the steps of Papal Rome coming to power? In 330 A.D. the Emperor Constantine moved the political capital from Rome to Constantinople, which left the bishop of Rome comparatively free of imperial control. The conversion of the Clovis, leader of the Franks, to the Roman faith about the year 496 A.D., when most of the Barbarian invaders were still Arians, gave the pope a strong political ally willing to fight battles of the church. For twelve centuries the sword of France, the "eldest son" of the Papacy, was an effective agent for conversion of men to the Church of Rome and maintaining Papal authority.

In 533 A.D. the Emperor Justinian wrote two official letters that had the force of royal edicts which recognized the Pope's ecclesiastical supremacy as "head of all the holy churches" in both the east and west, and he legally confirmed the Bishop of Rome as the "head of all holy priests of God."

But it was not until 538 A.D., when the Papacy was freed from the domination of the Arian kingdoms, that the decrees of Justinian went into effect:

One by one the other 7 kingdoms became Catholic, and the Pope emerged as the leading figure of Europe. ...all this took time, but the turning point can be found in the time of Justinian: 538 A.D. ...remember that date, it will be coming up again in a bit.

...time for some background.


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