Pope Innocent III (1196-1216)

The Church faced many challenges at the close of the twelfth century, challenges that threatened to tear it apart. Pope Innocent met those challenges. But he did so by means that cost the Church in the long run.

A. POPULAR HERESIES

1. THE PROBLEM

Great difference between what the Church preached and what it practiced cause questioning of the moral and ethical standards of the Church. There developed a strong, sometimes violent, movement of anti-clericalism

Changing economic and social conditions caused discontent, often expressed in popular heresies such as

the Albigensian and Waldensian movements.

People could have a direct relationship with God and didn't need the church.

2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION

When moral suasion and rational discourse failed to achieve his goals, Innocent was quick to turn to naked force.

B. THE HAMMER AND ANVIL

1. PROBLEM

The popes had always feared that, if a single power controlled both Germany and southern Italy, they would threaten the Papal States so effectively that the popes would be under their control.

2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION

In order to achieve his ends, Innocent deeply involved the Church in secular politics and used warfare to reach the his political goals - generally to keep the German princes and dukes from uniting the Holy Roman Empire.

C. DECLINE OF THE CRUSADES

1. THE PROBLEM

Innocent very much wanted a crusade to restore in the European nobility a sense of the moral leadership of the Church, but he found it very difficult to get a crusading movement started. Rather than a crusade against the Moslems he proposed crusades against renegade heretical aristocrats (the Albigenses)  in s France, which quickly turned to looting and a land grab of the richest agricultural provinces.

2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION

Innocent used to crusades to gain his ends, but cheapened the crusading ideal by making the crusade a tool to be used for political purposes and to enhance public relations.

D. CHURCH CORRUPTION

1. THE PROBLEM

The Church had not been able during the twelfth Century to meet the rising costs of caring for the poor and ill. Even while it was failing in that regard, it was using Church revenues for political purposes. The best clergy usually entered a cloistered life; the rest were under-paid, under-educated, lacking in zeal, and not very effective. The Church was unable to meet the expectations of a new middle class who were not satisfied with words and ceremony, but expected performance.

2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION

THE FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL 1215.

The Fourth Lateran Council took a number of dramatic steps to attack the bases of the sad situation in which the Church found itself.

A. It regulated the Jews.

B. It condemned simony and required that priests be celibate

C. The Council established the Inquisition to establish the principle of the supremacy of the religious doctrine embodied in the Church. The twelfth century had seen a great deal of flexibility in the presentation and discussion of theological matters. The Forth Lateran Council clearly intended that this flexibility and toleration should be ended.

D. The Council also, at Innocent's recommendation, gave official recognition to the Dominicans (1216) and Franciscans (1223) and so began the Mendicant Orders (begging).

Innocent managed to guide the Church  through a series of crisis but his management carried a high price. The Church had now become relatively rigid in its though and policies. It was no longer able to accommodate differences of opinion or to accept honest criticism. It could no longer aspire to be "The Moral Arbiter of European Affairs," because its moral stature had been greatly diminished by its deep involvement in secular politics.